


Issues

by whatarubberchicken



Series: Issues [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, a few days after volpina, these kiddos have a lot to work out, what happens after the reveal fic, written and takes place after season 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-26 05:01:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 43,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16674988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatarubberchicken/pseuds/whatarubberchicken
Summary: You know, Plagg may be right. These kids have a lot of issues. But when a force of destruction makes a suggestion, you can bet it'll snowball into something more! Still, together, Ladybug and Cat Noir can take on anything! Right?! Let's put it to the test! Get ready for emotions, snark, humor, romance, angst, and really bad puns!(Cross-posted from ff.net)





	1. In Which There Is a Big Reveal

**Author's Note:**

> This was written and takes place before Season 2, as a way for me to keep my sanity. You all recall, I'm sure, when they kept giving us later and later release dates? Yeah. Try explaining it to three very disappointed kiddos. At one point, they were even convinced that "Ladybug is dead!" and I just wouldn't tell them. So, to keep them occupied, I tried to get them to make up their own stories about what happened next. Or what they thought should happen. Most of it was a mixed bag of crack and humor, but some I decided to write down. I connected the dots, added some things, and voila!

** Issues **

_“Miraculous! Simply the best! Up to the test when things go wrong!” -Miraculous Theme_

**Chapter 1: In Which There Is a Big Reveal**

 

It would’ve been nice to know, Ladybug thought as she frantically dodged bullet after bullet, that her Lucky Charm didn’t work very well on ordinary people, even if it worked perfectly on akumas. During a routine night patrol, she and Cat Noir had come across a bank robbery in progress, and had decided (of course!) to step in. Usually, their mere presence was enough to make hardened criminals flee for their lives, making it easy to capture them and hand them over to the authorities, but these guys had decided to make a stand for it.

After having several magazines emptied out in her direction, Ladybug had figured enough was enough and called on her power, only to be left with a Kevlar vest, which was not _nearly_ as comforting as it should be.

In fact, with all the dancing around she and the bank robbers had done, they had somehow backed her into a corner, forcing her to take refuge in the same vault they had just robbed. Her yoyo caused some damage, but there were only so many bullets she could dodge or deflect. And now, she was running out of spots.

“ _Cataclysm_!” she heard Cat Noir shout outside. Beneath her feet, the ground shook and swayed. Cursing, she grabbed the wall to steady herself, even as she heard her mom’s voice in her head, telling her _“that was no way for a lady to speak!”_

_Sorry, Mom,_ she thought wryly to herself. What had that stupid cat done now? Judging from the yells coming from outside, something big.

The guys still shooting suddenly stopped with surprised yells. In the next moment, Cat Noir himself leapt into the vault where she was, looking very pleased with himself.

“Ah, there you are, my lady,” he grinned, with a little bow. “Your favorite hero has saved the day again!”

“You silly cat, what did you do?” Ladybug groaned, pulling herself back up.

“Just made sure none of the bad guys would get away,” he said casually. Much too casually, for Ladybug’s peace of mind. “Shall we go make sure they’re all present and accounted for?” He bowed again, obviously expecting to follow her out.

She sighed. After everything that had happened tonight, she was tired and running out of spots. And she had a feeling she really didn’t want to see what he had done outside. It had felt like an earthquake, for crying out loud!

She threw her Lucky Charm in the air. “Miraculous Ladybug!” she shouted, watching the swarm of lights and bugs disappear to do their work.

“Huh, none of the money returned,” Cat Noir said, looking around the vault. Ladybug groaned. Of course it didn’t. Just her luck.

“I guess my superpowers don’t work well with ordinary bank robbers,” she said, looking at her yoyo.

Then the vault door slammed shut.

They both yelled in surprise and rushed for the door, but it was already locked. Cat Noir tried to pry it open with his baton, and she threw her yoyo at it in vain. They were locked in.

“No other way in,” Cat Noir said, looking around. “And it looks like the cameras are still broken too. I’ll bet nobody even knows we’re in here.”

Great. Just great. At least the emergency lights were still working, so they could at least see— _beep beep!_

_Oh, crap! That was her last spot!!_

Quickly, Ladybug grabbed Cat Noir and spun him around so he was facing away from her.

“Um….” He said, trying to glance at her sideways.

“No peeking!” she said, just as her magic gave out. A flash of light later, Tikki collapsed on her shoulder. To her relief, Cat Noir’s head remained firmly facing away from her.

“Err, does that go for you too, my lady?” he asked, holding up his hand so she could see the last of his pawprints flashing.

“Eek!” Marinette yelped, spinning around so her back was to him, just as a green flash illuminated the area.

“Ugh,” she heard an unfamiliar voice say, “did you have to get the whole street? Now I’m famished!”

“Quiet, Plagg,” a not-so-unfamiliar voice responded, sounding tired. He unwrapped something. “Just eat, so we can get out of here.” For a moment, there was silence, but she had sooo many questions…

“Plagg?” Marinette asked softly.

“My kwami,” Cat Noir explained, though Marinette could’ve guessed that already. She heard the other voice say something that could’ve been a greeting, if she could understand him through all the food in his mouth.

Food.

Wait, food!!

“Oh my God, Tikki, I’m sorry!” she cried, quickly reaching into her purse for her emergency cookies. Tikki took one gratefully.

“It’s alright,” she said, biting into one with bliss. “You’ve got a lot going on right now. I understand.” Then she focused on eating her cookies.

A few more rather uncomfortable moments passed.

“So… um, Tikki, was it?” Cat Noir asked. Marinette nodded, and then nearly smacked herself. He couldn’t see her nod!

“Uh, yeah,” she said nervously. “My kwami.”

“What’s she like?” he asked.

“Um…”

“Uptight, overbearing, way too attached to the rules….” Plagg drawled.

“Plagg!” Cat exclaimed.

“Hey!” Marinette said at the same time.

“I am not!” Tikki said indignantly, flying up to confront her counterpart, still holding onto the cookie she was eating. She faltered a bit in the air, still weak from the transformation, and Marinette quickly caught her with her hand.

“Yes, you are,” Plagg argued. “Look at them! This is ridiculous. All they have to do is turn around! What’d you do, tell her she couldn’t be Ladybug anymore if anyone found out her identity?”

Tikki looked at Marinette sheepishly. “It’s a precaution,” she said weakly. “For safety.”

“It’s psychotic!”

“Plagg,” Cat Noir’s voice called softly. “It’s ok.”

“No, it’s not,” Plagg argued, gulping down another chunk of—well, it smelled like stinky cheese... “You two have enough issues as it is. She can trust you to watch her back in battle, but not enough to know her identity?”

Cat Noir gave a little laugh. “Well, I’m used to people not trusting me with important stuff. Really, don’t worry about it.”

His tone was so self-deprecating, it took all of Marinette’s willpower not to spin around and give him a hug. He sounded like he needed one. She glanced at Tikki and blinked when she realized the kwami had gone pale. She was staring at the pair behind Marinette with something between shock and horror on her face.

“Tikki?” she called softly. The kwami glanced nervously from Cat Noir and Plagg to Marinette and then back again.

Tikki licked her lips and focused on Marinette. “Well, erm… maybe you _should_ … reveal yourselves,” she said slowly.

Marinette made a squeak of alarm. “Reveal myself? To Cat Noir? But our—we-- well, what we have now, it’s working!” she exclaimed. “We’re beating the bad guys as we are! Why throw a wrench in it?

“Cause that’s all it would be!” she babbled on, in full panic mode. “Just another thing to deal with! We’d have to meet in real life, I have no idea how I’d explain you to my parents and friends and….um… well….” She trailed off, unsure how to say the next part. In the end, the reality of it was that she was just a simple teenage girl. Cat Noir looked up to her and followed her lead (and dammit, they needed that synchronization to beat the akumas they faced!), but he might not be willing to do that if he knew… knew who she really was.

Tikki looked up at her with sympathetic eyes. “I know it’s hard to trust someone you’ve never actually met before,” she said softly. “But, in this case, I think Plagg’s right. It might be a very good thing.” Marinette bit her lip, still debating.

Behind her, Cat Noir was shaking in silent laughter. “You afraid I won’t like you anymore, milady?” He asked teasingly. Marinette frowned. Underneath that joking phrase, her partner had just asked her a serious question. Was she afraid of his reaction?

The answer was a very solid yes.

“I’m… still a teenager,” she said slowly, gripping the edge of her jacket in nervousness.

“Really? Me too,” Cat Noir admitted.

A part of her relaxed, and she let out the breath she hadn’t known she was holding.

“I… uh… um… ugh, why is this so hard?” she groaned.

Behind her, she heard his kwami make a sound of disgust, then more chewing.

“I told you, kid,” he said with his mouth full. “Cheese is better.”

Cat Noir laughed softly. It must be an old argument of theirs. “It’s ok, Bugaboo,” he said, reassuringly. “You don’t have to.”

The use of his old nickname gave her courage and her voice back.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” she said slowly, trying to figure out her feelings as she said them, “because I do, really! I do! It’s just…” aaaand she was struggling to find the right words again, “I’m not… much… without the mask, is all.”

He scoffed. “I find that hard to believe.”

“Well, it’s true,” she said, with a sigh of her own.

“I bet I can prove it’s not,” he said, saucily.

“What? How?” Marinette squawked, before she could stop herself.

Behind her, he chuckled. “By asking the one closest to you. Hey, Tikki,” he called. “How badly is she lying?”

“Badly!” Tikki called back, her eyes shining brightly again. She giggled. “Ooo, I like him, Plagg!”

“Of course,” Plagg said, matter-of-factly, taking another gulp.

“Haven’t you had enough yet?” Cat Noir asked his kwami.

 “You made me take out a whole street!”

“Yeah, yeah…”

“You took out a whole street?” Marinette exclaimed.

“Just a part of it,” Cat Noir argued. “And your Miraculous Cure probably fixed it all anyway. No more excuses. We need to get out of here. Plagg, claws—”

“Wait!” Marinette cried, stopping what she was certain was his transformation sequence. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. The kwamis were right. They were being ridiculous. _She_ was being ridiculous. There was no reason why she and Cat Noir shouldn’t know each other’s true identities, and a lot of reasons why it could be a good thing. This had to stop. Maybe they… could even be friends.

She stepped away from him and then spun around, holding out her hand.

“Hi! My name is Marin—”

The words died in her throat as Cat Noir slowly turned to face her.

“A-a-a-adrien??”

Marinette felt the blood drain from her face. Adrien stared at her for a moment in shock, but then lit up with a smile, looking delighted.

“Marinette!?”

The next thing she knew, she was swept up in a hug. Her brain refused to process any further information as Adrien (holyGODinheavenitwasADRIEN) held her close, his body shaking in laughter.

“I was hoping it was you,” he murmured.

And that’s when Marinette’s brain started processing again. Because, wait—what did he say??

“WHA--??” she managed, as he let her go.

Now he looked sheepish, scratching the back of his neck. “Well, there were so many clues, I guess. You’re always late, like me, and you’ve got weird excuses; there was that history book from our class that Alya found… oh! And you and I are the only ones in our class who haven’t been akumatized!”

She blinked at him and then paled, realizing he was right.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, you don’t think anyone else noticed, do you?” she cried, panicking.

“Well, Nino’s the one who pointed it out to me, so yeah,” Adrien admitted. “But I argued that I’m not there for half our classes anyways, so less exposure. And everyone agrees you’re too nice to ever turn to the Dark Side.”

Marinette’s jaw dropped in disbelief.

“They bought that?”

He shrugged. “There also… may or may not be a bet going on as to which one of us is going to be turned first… but nobody will tell me for sure,” he said, looking slightly annoyed. Then he smiled again. “Which is why I’m so stoked you’re Ladybug! I was having a hard time imagining you as an akuma. Probably would’ve lost that battle….” He trailed off, looking uncertain.

Marinette could only gape at him. How had she never seen it before?? Green eyes, blond hair… heck, he and Cat Noir had the same body type! The fashion designer inside of her was banging her head repeatedly for this stupidity. She should’ve known him by his measurements alone! She literally saw him everyday! Hanging from every angle in her room!!

Giggling, Tikki floated into view. “Maybe we should continue this somewhere that _isn’t_ an ongoing crime scene?” she suggested sweetly.

Adrien blinked at the new kwami, looking delighted at her too. “Absolutely,” he agreed. “Ready, Plagg?” The black kwami grumbled a bit, but Adrien just rolled his eyes and then smiled at Marinette again. “Game on, my lady?”

Still in half a stupor at realizing she was so close to Adrien ( _Adrien_! ADRIEN! CATNOIRwasADRIEN!!), she nodded dumbly, then quickly shook herself out of it. (This was going to be even harder than she thought!) Time to focus!

_“Tikki, spots on!”_

_“Plagg, claws out!”_

Moments later, a Cataclysm rusted out the vault door, to the surprise of the authorities outside, who had been trying to figure out how a stray burglar had managed to melt it shut after locking it behind the two superheroes inside. After reassuring herself that the security cameras inside the vault had _not_ been working (how _lucky_ that the Miraculous Cure had failed this one time, huh?), Ladybug cast the Charm again, to find herself holding a bunch of papers that made absolutely no sense to her.

However, when she looked around, she saw two of (what she assumed to be) the bank’s higher officials, and she handed the papers to the one who didn’t give her a slimy vibe. His eyes immediately bugged out (pun not intended, shut up, Cat) while the man beside him went pale. Before he could make a run for it, his partner with the papers shouted for the police to arrest him.

Ladybug stayed out of it. Akumas were her problem. Someone else could deal with corporate embezzling.

She did worry a bit that the evidence would disappear when she called for the Cure, but to her surprise, the papers remained (though the backs of the documents no longer had ladybug spots). The vault door was also fixed, and apparently now the authorities knew where to find the missing money. She and Cat Noir called it a job well done on their end and quickly got out of there before they had to give interviews to the reporters instead of just the police.

Landing on a nearby rooftop, Ladybug allowed herself to breathe. This was okay. She could do this. Everything was going to be okay.

“So, my lady, your place or mine?”

“WHAT?” she screamed, spinning around to face her partner. Then she slammed her hands over her mouth. Half of Paris had probably heard her! He raised his hands to fend her off even as he laughed.

“Kidding, kidding. Well sort of,” he shrugged. She shot him a glare. “I meant to talk! Just talk! I mean, we need to talk, right?” He tried to give her a winning smile. Adrien’s smile! She briefly wondered how far she could fling him with her yoyo.

“Adrien—” she started

“Ah ah ah!” he interrupted, waggling his finger at her. “Cat Noir. Don’t wanna be mixing that up in the middle of a battle, (highly-publicized by a certain someone’s best friend,) now do we?”

She sighed. He had a good point. “Cat Noir, can we… sleep on it?” she asked timidly, ringing her hands. “It’s a lot to take in, and it’s getting really late as it is.”

For a moment, he looked like he wanted to argue, but decided against it and nodded at her. Then he gave her one of his typical bows. “I’ll see you tomorrow, milady,” he said. With that, he was off across the rooftops towards his house.

Ladybug watched him for a moment before heading towards her own house. Today had been harsh, both physically and emotionally, and she just wanted to collapse. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next, Chapter 2: In Which Everyone Is Having Too Much Fun (except for Marinette)


	2. In Which Everyone Is Having Too Much Fun (except for Marinette)

** Issues **

_“Miraculous! The luckiest! The power of love, always so strong!” -Miraculous Theme_

**Chapter 2: In Which Everyone Is Having Too Much Fun (except for Marinette)**

 

Marinette lay there, wide-eyed and staring at her alarm, just as it went off. Scowling, she turned it off, rolled over and tried to bury herself back in the blankets.

“~You know that won’t help,~” Tikki sang at her cheerfully. “If you don’t see him at school, he’ll just come looking for you! ~In your room~!”

Marinette shot out of bed and started tearing posters off her walls.

“Yikes! Whoops! Oh, you ripped that one. Careful! Aww that’s too bad, I always liked that one,” Tikki commentated as Marinette furiously went about “redecorating.”

“All this time, he was right there, Tikki!” she raged, tearing down her calendar and throwing it and what was left of the posters into her closet and slamming the door. “He’s even been _in_ my room as Cat Noir, he must’ve—oh, this is _so embarrassing_!”

“Well, he _was_ chasing an akuma at the time,” Tikki said. “He might not have noticed.”

“How could he _not notice_? How could _I_ not _notice??_ HE WAS RIGHT THERE!!” she sank to the ground in despair.

“Oh, Marinette,” Tikki sighed, swooping down to pat her head.

“What about you?” Marinette said, staring at the kwami. “Did you notice? Did you _know_ about Adrien??”

Tikki shook her head. “Nope,” she said.

“But, Plagg… Plagg would’ve been in the same room as you,” Marinette pressed. “And Master Fu said you can all sense each other.”

“Only to an extent,” Tikki clarified. “And only when a Miraculous is activated. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Wayzz is very sensitive to this sort of thing, which makes him the perfect partner for the Great Guardian. Plagg couldn’t care less, so I doubt he knew. As for me, a kwami would have to transform practically in the same room for me to pinpoint his location. Although, sometimes, I did sense him nearby.”

“That would make sense,” Marinette said, thinking of all the times she and Adrien had to have been close to each other during an akuma attack, only to duck out of sight and transform.

_“Marinette, you’re going to be late for school!”_ her mother called up the stairs.

Marinette groaned. “Do I have to, Tikki?”

“Well, if you would rather meet him _later tonight_ , in the _privacy of your room_ …,” Tikki drawled. Marinette shot up and quickly dressed for school, Tikki giggling behind her the whole way.

* * *

 

“When you said revealing ourselves would be a good thing, I didn’t realize you were talking about your own entertainment value!” Marinette muttered to her bag as she reached the school. Tikki hadn’t stopped giggling. Even now, the kwami popped her head out with a big smile.

“Sorry,” she said, (she didn’t sound sorry at all!) “I’ll be quiet now, promise.”

“Marinette!” Alya called, already at the top of the stairs. Marinette quickly closed her bag and headed for her friend, having a feeling she knew why her best friend was in such a good mood this morning.

“You are never gonna believe this, girl!” her friend gushed. “Ladybug and Cat Noir stopped a bank robbery last night!”

_Yep, here we go. Just nod and smile, Marinette._

“And not just that! Apparently, they were locked inside a vault together! For, like, an hour!”

_It wasn’t that long. More like ten minutes or something._

“Doing God knows what!!”

_Ugh, really, Alya? In a bank vault??_

“The police said the robbers took out the camera, so we can’t see what happened—”

_Thank you, Lords, gods, and tiny kwamis._

“—but I bet _they_ did it so they could get some alone time! Ahhh! Ladynoir is so legit!” Alya squealed.

_And again with the—wait, what?_

“Ladynoir?” Marinette repeated, staring at her friend.

“You know, Ladybug and Cat Noir’s couple name,” Alya said, still gushing at her phone. “Celebrity couples meld their names together all the time! And this one, I’m shipping hard. Boo-yah!”

“C-couple? Shipping?” Marinette could only gape at her friend.

“Oh yeah!” Alya confirmed. She glanced up at Marinette only to wave at something behind her. “Nino! Adrien! How’s it going?” Marinette froze.

“I take it you caught last night’s news,” Nino laughed.

“You know it!” Alya said. (Marinette was doing her best not to turn and look at a certain blond.) “Mom wouldn’t let me out, since one of the robbers got away and it wasn’t safe… but the story they got! Ooo! Marinette and I were just discussing Ladybug and Cat Noir’s illicit affair in the bank’s vault afterwards!”

“Oh _really_ ,” Adrien said. Marinette didn’t look at him, but she could still feel herself blush from head to toe. She wouldn’t look at him. She didn’t _need_ to look at him to hear the smirk in his voice _. Oh God, why was he smirking? Make him stop smirking!!_

“Really, Alya?” Nino said, hesitantly, “Ladybug’s got a little more class than that, don’t you think?”

Marinette could’ve kissed him. _Thank God for Nino!_

“Oh no, boy, you are not messing with my headcanon,” Alya argued as they headed into class, seemingly not realizing they were leaving behind their two best friends. One of whom was still determinedly not looking at the other one.

“So…” Adrien drawled, “Ladynoir, huh?”

Marinette groaned and facepalmed, stalking into the school. To his credit, the boy beside her _attempted_ to muffle his laughter.

* * *

 

Class was distracting, at best. Or rather, a certain blond-haired person sitting in front of her was distracting. And no, she didn’t mean the harpy who was set on making her life a living hell. She meant the stupid, gorgeous, somehow-still-perfect-and-how-does-that-work? boy who kept sneaking glances at her and whispering with Nino.

What were they talking about??

In her pocket, her phone buzzed. Taking it out discreetly so the teacher wouldn’t see, she hid it under the desk. It was a text from Alya. She shot a look at her friend, who just grinned at her. Really? They were like two feet away, couldn’t she just whisper it or something? Frowning, she opened it.

**Alya:** Nino says Adrien wants your number. Should I give it to him?

Marinette’s mouth dropped open in a silent scream, as she just barely remembered they were in class. Quickly, she replied.

**Marinette:** NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! DON’T GIVE IT TO HIM!

She should’ve known the outcome as Alya started laughing silently beside her.

**Alya:** I’ll take that as a yes.

“Alya!” Marinette whisper-screamed, as her best friend grinned at her and very deliberately pushed SEND on her phone. This time, it wasn’t Marinette’s phone that buzzed. It’s was Adrien’s.

_Oh God_. Marinette tried to slump down and make herself as tiny and inconspicuous as possible. As Adrien read it, looked up at Alya with a nod of thanks, and then looked back at Marinette with another smirk, she covered her face with her hands.

Any other day, she would’ve been ecstatic that her crush wanted her number. She would’ve been on Cloud Nine if he tried to text her in class. Now? How did you deal with the fact that your mild-mannered crush was actually a smooth-talking, leather-wearing superhero who flirts with you ALL THE TIME? Or that said superhero/partner is actually your drop-dead gorgeous crush?? _Help, help, my head is going to explode!!_

Her phone buzzed.

Nope. Nope nope nope. She wasn’t going to answer that. That was a bomb waiting to go off. That was one big BIOHAZARD sign. A threat to her health. She was going to die. Or maybe she was already dead and living in hell. There was no way this was happening!

Her phone buzzed again.

Alya nudged her. “Answer it,” she hissed, probably thinking Marinette had her typical Adrien-shyness going on. But she didn’t. Now she had Adrien-Cat Noir shyness. Which was exponentially worse!! She couldn’t even think about him, much less talk to him!! She hadn’t been able to sleep at all last night because of him! What would she say? –What would _he_ say??

Her phone buzzed for the third time.

Inwardly, she groaned. In the end, Tikki was right. She couldn’t get away from him now. Best to just get it over with. She looked down at her phone. Unbeknownst to him, his number had already been entered in her phone a long time ago. (She would have to make sure Alya never told him about that time she had tried to ask him out on a date via voicemail!) Sure enough, there were three new messages.

**Adrien:** Hey!

**Adrien:** What’s the matter? _Cat_ got your tongue?

**Adrien:** Aww, c’mon, princess. I know this isn’t _purr_ fect, but you could at least try to _paw_ ticipate.

Marinette couldn’t help it. She groaned. Loudly. So loudly that Ms. Bustier stopped her lecture to look at her.

“Is something wrong, Marinette?” the teacher asked, frowning. Marinette felt her face heat up. Again.

“Sorry, Ms. Bustier!” she said quickly. “Stomachache. But it’s gone now!”

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the nurse’s office?” Ms. Bustier asked, concerned.

“Yes, ma’am. I mean no, ma’am. I’m fine now,” she said, laughing nervously.

“Probably something she ate at that bakery her parents run,” Chloe remarked, turning up her nose. Marinette saw red.

“What did you say?” she said furiously, standing up. She ignored Alya’s frantic tugging on her to try to get her back in her seat.

“No talking in class, Miss Bourgeois,” Ms. Bustier said crisply. “Marinette, sit down if you’re not going to the nurse’s office.”

Fuming, Marinette defiantly stood there.

“ _Now_ , Miss Dupain-Chang,” Ms. Bustier said, putting a bit more force behind her words.

Marinette sat, still glaring at Chloe. She knew for a fact that her parents’ bakery was the best in Paris! They had never, ever had a single complaint about food poisoning! Even the mayor went there for his bread on occasion! Chloe had no right… no right!

“Girl, calm down,” Alya murmured beside her. “She’s a bitch, don’t give her this.”

“I know what I want to _give_ her,” Marinette growled, continuing to fume as the lesson progressed. Nobody talked about her family that way! She was having a terrible day, after a long, sleepless night. She was confused, tired, angry, depressed, slightly hopeful, and incredibly overwhelmed! The last thing she needed was—

Beside her, Alya let out a gasp and then a scream. Quickly, Marinette looked at her best friend, who was staring in horror at…. She followed her gaze to the window and felt her stomach plummet.

A little, black butterfly had just slipped inside, heading straight for her.

Every single person in the room knew what it meant. Most scrambled to get out of the way. Chloe and Sabrina straight up abandoned their chairs to run screaming to the back of the room. Marinette sat there, frozen in shock. Adrien ran in front of her, desperately trying to block it or swipe it away. Somehow, it evaded him and flew straight into her purse.

For a moment, the world stopped. She could feel her own rage at Chloe expand until it consumed her thoughts. Fire rushed through her veins. Her chest hurt and her head felt like it was being squeezed. She wanted to hurt the brat! Make her pay. Four years— _four years_ she had put up with the spoiled little princess, flaunting her father’s position and her family’s money. It was sickening! She needed to be punished, so badly—

**“ _Yes_ ,” **a deep voice agreed, seeming to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. She felt compelled to listen.   **“ _I am Hawkmoth—_ ”** She jolted at the name. Something—she needed to remember something important about that name! **“ _I can give you the power to punish this—_ ”**

_“MARINETTE!!”_

Suddenly, a new voice cut through the purple haze of Hawkmoth’s spell. One familiar. And trusted. And…. She felt a pair of hands lift her face up, just enough so she could see a pair of green eyes. Green eyes? Cat Noir? No, Adrien! Adrien was staring at her with desperation in his eyes. “Don’t do it, Marinette,” he begged. “Please! Say no. Don’t- don’t make me…,” he whispered. “Please, don’t make me….”

Adrien. Cat Noir! That was right… _“I was having a hard time imagining you as an akuma. Probably would’ve lost that battle….”_ Adrien would have to fight her. And he was pleading with her not to make him do that.

He was so sweet. So kind. And this would kill him.

WHAT THE HELL WAS SHE DOING?

Marinette blinked as all the rage she had felt before drained out of her, leaving her staring up at Adrien. He stared back, his eyes lighting up with hope.

“Marinette?” he called softly. She blinked again. He really was so beautiful… why had she been so angry again?

Adrien looked down and laughed in delight as the little, black butterfly flew back out of her purse, looking lost and confused as it tried to make its way back to the window.

Alya, channeling her inner-Ladybug, chased after it. “Get out of here, you nasty bug!” she shouted, hitting it as hard as she could with her history book. To everyone’s surprise, it burst into hundreds of tiny purple and black sparkles.

Alya blinked, then grinned, looking proud of herself. “Well, look at that,” she said lightly. “Homework really can kill!” The class burst out laughing in relief. Ms. Bustier ran to Marinette.

“Marinette, are you okay?” she asked anxiously, looking her over for injuries.

“Oh God, girl, I thought it had you!” Alya exclaimed, also rushing over.

_So did I_ , Marinette wanted to admit. What had she almost done?? She felt weak. And pathetic. Cold. And really, she just wanted to cry. Or sleep for a year.

She felt, rather than saw, her class start to crowd around her. Adrien had moved over to her side to make room for Ms. Bustier, but it was clear he wasn’t leaving anytime soon. People were babbling again. Saying how scared they’d been. Wondering what sort of monster she would’ve become. Exclaiming over how she’d managed to say ‘no’ to something they all had fallen prey to themselves….

“Ms. Bustier?” she said weakly. The class went silent. “I think I would like to go to the nurse’s office after all.”

“I’ll take her,” Alya offered quickly. Then Adrien was at her side again, holding her arm.

“Please, Alya, let me,” he said softly. Marinette clung to his arm as she stood. He was warm, and strong, and pretty much the only thing holding her upright. Alya must’ve sensed this, because she backed down quickly, and didn’t even bother to play the “best friend” card.

“I’ll come check on you as soon as class is over,” she promised, winking at Marinette as Adrien led her out of the classroom. Marinette couldn’t even find the strength to blush as she realized her best friend probably saw this as an opportunity for Marinette to be with her crush.

Vaguely, she wondered if Alya had given them a couple name yet.

* * *

 

Miles away, a man in a purple suit raged as his butterflies swarmed frantically around him.

“Impossible!” he bellowed, grasping at the air as though he could strangle his imagined enemy. “I almost had her! Curse the boy! You don’t know how long I have waited to get to that girl!! Blast it all!” His hands shaking white in anger, he forced himself to calm down. “Still, this may be an opportunity…. And my revenge will be twice as sweet!! Ladybug and Cat Noir will not count this as a victory for long!!” Vicious laughter boomed out around him.

* * *

 

Marinette was pretty sure Adrien’s presence at her side was the only thing keeping her from having a nervous breakdown in the hallway. As it was, she felt his grip tighten as she started trembling.

“Almost there,” he said, smiling at her to try to cheer her up. He took one look at her face and slowed down. “Or do we need to find a room to be alone in for a while?”

Marinette blinked at him. “What?” He couldn’t possibly be thinking—

“Do you need to transform?” he asked, gesturing to her bag. Marinette blinked at him again before it clicked. Her bag!

“Tikki!” she cried, reaching to open it, then aborting the movement midway. The halls were not empty; someone might see.

Adrien quickly steered her over to a dark classroom, checking inside to make sure it was empty. Then he nodded at her and drew her inside, closing the door behind them. The light from the windows gave them plenty of light to see as they sat down against the wall. Marinette opened her bag to check on her kwami.

“Yuck!” Tikki exclaimed, immediately zipping up and shaking herself all over, with a disgusted look on her face. “That was awful! Let’s not do it again!”

“Oh, Tikki, I’m so sorry!” Marinette cried, holding out her hands for the kwami, who immediately landed to face her. “This is all my fault—”

“No, it isn’t,” Tikki said forcefully. “It’s Hawkmoth’s. He’s the one who tried to turn you evil. And you fought him, Marinette! I’m so proud of you!”

Some of the cold inside Marinette warmed at that. “I had a little help,” she admitted, looking at Adrien. “I heard your voice break through when he was trying to talk to me. Thank you.”

He blushed and scratched the back of his neck. “I had to try something. Couldn’t let you go akuma on me.”

Marinette laughed nervously. That could’ve only ended in disaster. “Tikki, are you all right?” she asked, focusing on her friend again.

“I… may have been a little sick in your bag,” the pink kwami admitted. “But I focused on hiding my presence from him as soon as I felt the akuma nearby, so I don’t think Hawkmoth knew I was there.”

“Oh, thank God,” Marinette breathed.

“What about you?” Tikki asked, concerned. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m…” Marinette faltered. Because, really, she _wasn’t_. “Tikki—I—” To her mortification, she burst into tears. “Sorry! …I’m so—” Desperately, tried to wipe the tears away, but they kept coming. It was all just so _much_!!

“Hey, it’s okay,” Adrien said, laying a hand on her shoulder. It was warm. She hadn’t even realized how cold she still felt until he touched her. Instinctively, she leaned into it, only feeling a tiny jolt of surprise when his arms went around her and pulled her into a hug.

Sweet, sweet warmth.

Relief.

She wasn’t alone.

Somebody cared. _He_ cared.

The next thing she knew, she was clinging to Adrien and crying on his shoulder as he held her. If she had been able to look up, she might’ve been confused at the smile on his face as he settled her in his arms, or the unnoticed kiss he placed on the top of her head. As it was, she was sufficiently distracted, and neither kwami had any intention of saying anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next, Chapter 3: In Which There Is a Misunderstanding


	3. In Which There Is a Misunderstanding

** Issues **

_“Uh-uh-oh. Oh no, you'll never know.” -Miraculous Theme_

**Chapter 3: In Which There Is a Misunderstanding**

 

They ended up not making it to the nurse’s office. Somehow, they completely missed the bell for their next classes and then, a few minutes later, another akuma appeared in the city. This one was another young girl who had been bullied in her class (apparently Hawkmoth had a theme going today), whose tormentor had been putting tacks on her seat.

Pincushion (ohh, Adrien was going to laugh himself sick for _days_!) proved to be much more formidable than her name and appearance suggested (sure enough, she was covered in pins, which made it hard to fight her hand-to-hand), shooting an endless supply of pins and needles at them.

Cat Noir, of course, was having the time of his life.

“Do you think she’s made her _point_?” he called over to Ladybug as they dodged her latest barrage. His partner was trying hard not to groan at all the puns. They had been going at this for what seemed like hours! (Of course, it was mostly running away.) “She really needs to _stick_ to it. I mean, she doesn’t seem very _sharp_ to me.”

“Aren’t you running out of puns yet?” she yelled irritably. He jumped over to her as they took cover behind a building.

“Why? Are they getting _under your skin_?” he asked, sidling up to her and wiggling his eyebrows. She rolled her eyes.

“Just help me find the akuma, kitty,” she said.

“Her charm bracelet,” he said immediately. She gaped at his instant response.

“Are you sure?” she asked, chancing another glance.

“Yup. She keeps using that arm for all of her attacks,” Cat Noir said confidentially. “Why? You don’t trust me?” he asked, thrusting out his bottom lip in a pout.

Ladybug giggled and scratched him under the chin. It was easy to fall back into their same patterns of teasing with the masks on. “Silly kitty, I know you’ve got a good eye. Just wanted to be sure. I don’t think we’re going to get another chance at this. _Lucky Charm!_ ” she cried, calling on her power. A small star-shaped tub of red goop fell into her hands.

“What the—”

“Gak!” Cat Noir cried, his face lighting up. He excitedly opened the lid and poked the red jelly-like substance inside. Ladybug touched it too, taking it out and making a disgusted face that Cat Noir laughed at. “I always wanted some of that when I was a kid, but my mom was afraid it would stain.”

“Well, looks like we get to play with it now,” Ladybug said, looking around. A plan started to form. It was a bad plan, and risky, but what part of this wasn’t? “Cat Noir, see the street light above her? Think you can take it out?”

“With pleasure, milady,” Cat Noir smirked. Together, they broke cover, running in different directions: Cat running to the side, where he would hopefully be forgotten, and Ladybug charging right in.

“Hey, Pincushion!” she called, spinning her yoyo to deflect the projectiles still coming at her, “don’t you think this has gotten kinda _dull_??”

_Oh ye gods. Cat Noir was rubbing off on her._

But it seemed to work, since she had to dodge more attacks as the enemy focused on her. Meanwhile Cat Noir used his parkour to climb the walls behind Pincushion and leap at the street light.

“ _Cataclysm_!” he cried, grabbing it. It immediately crumbled, falling on a very-surprised villain. Pincushion barely managed to dodge it, but when she tried to do a cartwheel, the ground where she placed her hand felt strange; like landing on jelly. She slipped and fell hard on her back, knocking the wind out of herself. Gasping, she looked down to see her hand covered in some strange red goop.

“Feels weird, doesn’t it?” Ladybug said, landing next to Pincushion and quickly sliding the charm bracelet off her wrist. “Definitely one of the strangest things my powers have given me.”

Ladybug smashed the bracelet against the pavement and watched in amusement as a little, black butterfly tried to escape. Catching it deftly with her yo-yo, she released the newly-cleansed _white_ butterfly back into the world with a cheerful goodbye. Soon, a swarm of ladybug lights were putting Paris back the way it used to be, and a young schoolgirl sat in the middle of the street, wondering just what had happened to her.

“Hey,” said Ladybug, kneeling next to the girl and holding out her fixed bracelet. The girl’s eyes went wide.

“Ladybug!” she cried. “I’m such a huge fan!”

They continued to talk to her until Lt. Roger got there, reminding her that it was okay to tell the teachers if someone’s pranks were actually hurting her. With her promise to try to be more brave like them, and Roger’s promise to get her home safely, the pair quickly leapt away before their time ran out.

They ducked into an alleyway just as their transformations faded, breathing a sigh of relief as their kwamis fell into their ready hands.

“Tikki? Are you okay?” Marinette asked anxiously, still worried about what had happened earlier that day. “I didn’t push you too hard, did I?”

“Nope,” Tikki said, sounding tired but still cheerful. “All good here.”

“I’m _starving_ ,” Plagg complained.

“I got ya covered, buddy,” Adrien said, already holding up a piece of cheese. Plagg dove at it, crooning at it lovingly before devouring it whole.

Marinette wrinkled her nose at the smell. “What is that?” she asked.

“Camembert cheese,” Adrien explained. “It’s pretty much all he eats.”

“Eww.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, Tikki, I don’t have any cookies since we need to clean my bag out, but I think we’re pretty close to home,” Marinette said, looking around the neighborhood. They were only two blocks away from the bakery. And school was probably already out. Gah, that akuma had taken forever! Hawkmoth must’ve been pissed Marinette had gotten away or something.

“Can we get the chocolate chip ones again?” Tikki asked sleepily, burrowing into Marinette’s collar.

Marinette smiled at her friend. “Sure thing.” They started towards the bakery. Adrien hurried to catch up.

“So how come you get the kwami who likes delicious cookies, and I get stuck with the one who wants stinky cheese?” he complained, pouting.

“Just lucky, I guess,” Marinette grinned. Adrien scoffed and looked at Plagg, who was cradling his current piece of cheese protectively.

“Oh no, kid,” Plagg growled, “you do _not_ want to see me on a sugar rush. Nuh uh. Not eating those. Not while I have this savory deliciousness right here!”

Adrien shrugged. “Your loss. But I still get some, right?” he asked Marinette hopefully. Marinette stopped short. They were almost to the bakery and she had just now realized that ADRIEN was following her home! He wanted to come in and have cookies! He wanted… to talk. She had promised they’d talk. About _them_. She felt her face pale.

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” she said, trying to smile. Ugh, this was going to be so embarrassing!! First, she had initiated their big reveal, then she had run off on him…. Then she had refused to look at him or talk to him at school…. Then she had almost gotten akumatized and cried all over his shoulder…. HE WAS GOING TO THINK SHE WAS A BASKET CASE!!! Which she was, currently, no doubt about that….

“Marinette?” Adrien asked, looking at her strangely.

AHHHH!!! SHE HAD JUST BEEN STANDING HERE THE WHOLE TIME!!! And he wasn’t used to her spacing out!!!

“S-sorry… what? Did you say something?” she asked, finally, trying to smile. (Inwardly, she facepalmed. _Nice one, Marinette._ )

Adrien sighed. “Ok,” he said, taking a deep breath and looking like he was steeling himself for something. “I get it. Look, Marinette, I know you hate me—”

**_WHAT?????_ **

“—and I’ll respect your boundaries and all, but I really think we need to talk about this sometime,” he said.

Marinette could only stand there, with her jaw gaping open. He-he thought...

“You think I hate you?” she whispered. (She didn’t trust her voice not to crack right then.)

“Well, maybe ‘hate’ is too strong a word,” Adrien said, pondering. “Extremely dislike, maybe?”

“WHA--?” she was right, her voice did crack.

He gave her an understanding smile. “It’s all right,” he assured her, “I’m not mad or anything. I mean, I didn’t really make a good first impression. And we’ve hardly had a conversation that lasts for more than a few minutes at a time. Plus, I’m friends with Chloe, who you _do_ hate. And I know you’re trying. You’re so nice to _everyone_ , even if they don’t deserve it. Heh, you even apologized to Lila and Chloe after they were akumatized because of you, and we both know _they_ didn’t deserve it.”

“B-b-b-b-but—” She couldn’t seem to form the words. Her mind was completely blank. _Adrien thought she hated him?!?!_

He waited for her to finish (even now he was being such a gentleman to her!), but after a moment, he sighed again. “Look, I’m just saying, you don’t have to try so hard, okay? No--nothing has to change between Ladybug and Cat Noir. We’ve got each other’s numbers now, so we can communicate that way if you want. At least we won’t have to worry about where the other one is when an akuma attacks.”

“ _Why would you think I hate you_?” Marinette whisper-screamed, barely managing to even get that out.

Adrien blinked at her tone, then gave a little laugh. “Because you avoid me whenever you can and try to smile when you can’t,” he said, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. “You were even friendlier with Cat Noir than me the few times you met him. Even when we partnered up for the tournament that one time, you kept trying to get us practice more and more to get me out of your house faster. I thought maybe you’d give me a chance when our best friends started dating, but… you’d just give me one of those smiles that says you didn’t want to be there. I should know. I’ve put on that same smile for my father’s parties for years.” He gave a careless shrug. She gaped at him.

“That-that’s not—”

“Marinette,” he said with a knowing smile, “I’ve been modelling practically my whole life. I know a fake smile when I see one. And yours… are super-forced.” With that, he gave her the big, wide smile that Alya sometimes made when making fun of Marinette about her crush.

Marinette hoped the ground would open up soon and swallow her whole. One big black hole, to go, please! That was what she looked like??? No wonder Adrien had gotten the wrong idea.

“Adrien,” she choked out, “I don’t hate you! I actually lo—” A small gasp inside her collar made Marinette pause and lose her momentum. “I-I-mean, I-I-I….”

She couldn’t do it! She couldn’t finish that sentence!! Not now! Not here!! She couldn’t find the words!!

“Ugh, I’ve put you on the spot now, haven’t I?” Adrien groaned. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I mean, when we found out, I was hoping—no. No, Marinette, seriously, it’s ok—”

But it was NOT okay. It wasn’t even _remotely_ okay!! She couldn’t let him leave like this!! But she was a stammering, stuttering dinglebat in front of him, and she wasn’t going to be able to tell him anything! So instead, she marched forward and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him to the bakery with her.

“Marin--??”

“Cookies!” she said, decisively. “We are going to get cookies. Now.” There. A full sentence. Ta-da!

“You don’t have to—”

“Cookies!” she insisted. “For you and Tikki. Then we’ll… talk.” She almost stumbled on that word, but forced it out just as they got inside.

“Marinette!” her mother greeted her at the front counter. Thankfully, there were no customers around to see her daughter manhandling a teenage model.

“Mom, you remember Adrien?” Marinette said, pulling said boy in front of her. He waved hello sheepishly.

“Oh yes, of course. How are you, Adrien?”

“Just fine, ma’am. How are you today?”

Her mother had barely replied before Marinette grabbed Adrien’s arm again and dragged him back towards the apartment.

“Mom, Adrien and I are having a serious misunderstanding and we need to talk. Now. So, we’ll be in my room, okay?” she said hurriedly, shoving Adrien in front of her.

Her mother looked startled, but smiled and waved. “Of course.”

Marinette stuck her head back out the door. “Do we have any extra cookies?”

“On the counter, dear.”

“Thanks!”

Sabine blinked as the door closed again, then shook her head. “Well, as long as he’s okay with her wearing the pants in the family….” She giggled a little at the thought of green-eyed grandbabies.

* * *

 

Adrien, meanwhile, was pushed up the last set of stairs to his partner’s bedroom. “Marinette, this really isn’t necess—”

“You wanted to talk, so we’ll talk. Oh, I almost forgot the cookies!” she disappeared back down the stairs, only to reappear a second later, putting Tikki on her desk. She shot him a look and pointed to a chair in front of her desk. “Sit. Stay.” Then she was gone again.

Groaning, Adrien threw himself into the chair. When he had said he wanted to talk, this was not what he meant. Now he’d made her mad at him!

“What was that about?” Plagg demanded. Adrien looked at his kwami, wondering what he had done now, but soon realized his little friend wasn’t talking to him. He was glaring at the other kwami, Tikki, who was sitting on the desk, looking ashamed of herself.

“I couldn’t help it!” she said. “It just came out!”

“Gah! And after all the grief you gave me about our last reveal, you just had to go and ruin this one!” Plagg griped.

“What?” Adrien said, confused. “What are you two talking about? You’ve done this before?”

“Hundreds of times,” Plagg waving it away like it was nothing.

“Yes, but back then Bridgette and Felix were much less ready to reveal themselves than Marinette and Adrien were,” Tikki said, scowling at Plagg. “You could’ve _tried_ to salvage some of their relationship!”

“Bridgette? Felix?” Adrien asked.

“Our last wielders,” Plagg explained. “Don’t worry about it. You’re nothing like him; he was a real stick-in-the-mud. And a jerk to boot. He even tried to put me on a diet a few times!”

“Perish the thought,” Adrien said, rolling his eyes.

“I know, right?”

“So, what happened to them?” Adrien pressed, unable to help himself. The two kwamis looked at each other uncertainly.

“Well, they were tricked into revealing themselves,” Tikki said slowly (with an obvious glance at Plagg), “but they didn’t take it well. They weren’t ready….”

“Like Marinette wasn’t ready?” Adrien said. Tikki quickly shook her head.

“No, I think she _is_ ready, Adrien,” she said. “She just… has to allow herself to _be_ the person she wants to be.”

“But Hawkmoth—”

“Hawkmoth was grasping at straws when he tried to akumatize her,” Tikki said, sounding angry. “If her mind had truly been in chaos, you would never have been able to reach her.”

“I’m back,” Marinette called, coming up the steps. In her hands, she had a tray full of cookies, two glasses of lemonade, and… “I brought you some cheese bread,” she said to Plagg, placing the tray on the desk in front of Adrien. “It’s not Camembert, but maybe it’ll do for a snack?” Plagg gasped in delight and attacked the bread. Marinette laughed at the happy sounds he made as she gave Tikki a couple chocolate chip cookies. While Plagg was rolling around the desk with the giant piece of bread, Tikki sat politely, eating her cookies bite by bite.

“So, what were you talking about?” she asked as she handed Adrien a glass of lemonade without looking at him.

“Hawkmoth,” he said, feeling slightly put out. She was avoiding him again, even if they were sitting in the same room, talking. He wanted to talk about _them_! Him and her. Cat Noir and Ladybug. Adrien and Marin—

“Yeah, we need to come up with a plan to defeat that guy,” Marinette said. She glanced at Adrien, then quickly looked away again. “Got any ideas?”

He sighed. Obviously, he was going to have to wait until later for the talk he really wanted. Might as well get this one over with. “We need more information,” Adrien said, taking some cookies for himself. (They smelled sooo good.) “All we really know about him is he has a Miraculous that can turn people into monsters using little evil butterflies.”

“It’s not supposed to be like that,” Tikki said sadly, in between bites. “Poor Nooroo. The Moth Brooch was meant to inspire people to become better, not worse.”

“Nooroo?”

“Hawkmoth’s kwami,” Plagg explained. “He’s nice enough, but waay too eager to please his wielder.”

“You know him?”

“Pfft. We all know each other, kid. Kinda comes with hanging around together for a few thousand years.”

“What else can you tell us about him?” Adrien asked. The two kwamis looked at each other again.

“Not much that’s useful to you, honestly,” Plagg said. “He can give people powers and influence them on how they use them.”

“But he can’t control them directly, like a puppet or anything,” Tikki chimed in, “and they have to accept the powers. It was meant to create temporary superheroes to help if… things got out of hand and the other Miraculous wielders couldn’t keep up.”

“But having too many superheroes on the battlefield can cause… issues,” Plagg said darkly. “Besides, the Moth Brooch went missing a long time ago. We had no idea where Nooroo or his Miraculous was.”

“As soon as the Great Guardian sensed Hawkmoth take control, he sent us out to combat him,” Tikki continued. “But Hawkmoth’s kept himself very well hidden. Other than that, we don’t have much information.”

“Out of all of us, Marinette, you’re the only one he’s actually talked to,” Adrien said.

Marinette suddenly found herself the focus of three gazes. “I, uh, don’t remember much about it,” she said.

“Try, Marinette,” Tikki pleaded. “Did he speak to you? Show you images? What did he sound like? What did he say?”

“He introduced himself,” Marinette said, thinking back to the possession. “I remember he had a deep voice, and feeling like I had to listen to him no matter what. Then he told me he could give me the power to—” she faltered, feeling embarrassed now that it was all over, “-well, to punish Chloe for all the bad things she’s done,” she admitted.

Adrien snorted. “Well, you wouldn’t be the first to be akumatized for that. Or even the second. Geez, how many--” He started counting on his fingers.

“Still,” Marinette said. “I shouldn’t have let her get to me. I should know better!”

“Oh, Marinette, nobody’s perfect,” Tikki sighed. “The important thing is that you fought him.”

“Yeah, by the way… got any tips?” Adrien asked, laughing nervously. “Now I’m the only one in our class he hasn’t targeted yet.”

Marinette paled at the thought of having to fight an akumatized Adrien. _Adrien! Who knew fencing! And karate! And how to make her heart stutter to a bleary halt in his civilian form! Adrien! Who was Cat Noir!! That meant she’d have no backup. And--oh God. Would he still have his Cat Noir powers? Would he tell Hawkmoth about her identity? Would Hawkmoth be able to figure **his** identity out?? Oh, this was so not good!!_

“Breathe, Marinette,” Tikki ordered. Marinette let out her breath that she hadn’t even realized she was holding. The kwami turned to Adrien. “Don’t worry, Adrien. Miraculous wielders can’t be possessed by other Miraculous unless they’re willing.”

“Or they’re having a _really_ bad day,” Plagg muttered.

“The point is,” Tikki continued, shooting a glare at Plagg, “as long as you keep your head, you should be able to resist him. Marinette would’ve been able to throw him off eventually, and having you there just quickened the process.”

“So, I can help Adrien if Hawkmoth comes for him too?” Marinette asked.

“Yup!” Tikki chirped, smiling at her wielder.

“Aww, hear that, Bugaboo?” Adrien teased. “You get to be my Lucky Charm once he decides to finish off our class.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Marinette muttered. Her heart might stutter and jump when Adrien was around (like right now!), but there was no guarantee it would happen the other way around.

“It might not,” Tikki said, obviously trying to calm them both down. “We don’t know for sure yet if he’s targeting your class specifically or not…”

“…but there’s a pretty good chance he is,” Plagg finished, floating up to hover by Adrien’s head. “After all, he wants the ring and earrings, and you’re both in that class.”

“You mean he knows where to find us?” Marinette asked, panicking again. “Tikki, you said—”

“It’s different with all of us,” Tikki reminded her. “The Moth Miraculous’s special power is sensing _emotions_ , not other Miraculous. That’s how he finds his victims. Maybe he’s able to sense that we’re in the area somehow….”

“Not true,” Adrien countered. “Hawkmoth started attacking the class before I even got there the first day, remember? Whatever it is, it’s not us.”

“That’s right,” Marinette said, remembering. Ivan had been turned into Stoneheart before she had ever seen the little box that hid Tikki and the earrings inside.

“Do you think… he could be targeting… Chloe?” Adrien asked slowly.

“WHA--?” the other three gaped at him.

“Chloe,” he repeated, sounding firmer. “She’s been either the direct or indirect cause of most of our classmates being akumatized.”

“That’s because she’s a bitch!” Marinette snapped. She clapped her hands over her own mouth, shocked at herself.

“But don’t you find it odd?” Adrien pressed. (He didn’t bother to contradict her. That was a lost battle.)

“Maybe it’s just somebody who knows Chloe,” Marinette said, “and knows that she leaves people bitter and angry wherever she goes. Maybe she’s even working with Hawkmoth, to deliver people he can akumatize!”

“Nah,” Adrien argued. “Chloe may be mean sometimes, but she’s not evil. Besides, she’s a huge fan of Ladybug, remember?” he added, winking at Marinette, who flushed. “I think she’d be pretty dead set against you if you were wrecking her ‘dastardly plans to take over the world.’ She tends to be a little… _vocal_.” 

“Understatement of the year,” Plagg muttered.

“Yeah—well, what if Hawkmoth is just using her?” Marinette countered.

“She’s been akumatized already,” Adrien said with a shrug. “And she didn’t get any closer to our Miraculous than the others did. You’d think if he was already using her, she’d get extra powers or something.”

“But—”

“ _Marinette!_ ” her mother’s voice called from downstairs. The two kwamis quickly hid as Sabine’s head appeared. “Is everything all right up here?”

“Yes, mom,” Marinette sighed.

“Okay. Adrien, Miss Natalie called. She’ll be picking you up in ten minutes,” Sabine said.

Adrien paled. “Oh! Uh, thank you, ma’am!” he said as she was leaving. As soon as she was gone, he pulled out his phone. “Crap, am I gonna get the third degree,” he muttered, pushing a button.

“Didn’t you hear it?” Marinette asked, curious.

He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “I kinda turned it off after we left class,” he admitted, showing her it was currently booting up. “I didn’t want to just leave you there alone.”

Marinette stared at him, her eyes wide. A few awkward seconds passed before she ducked her head and sucked in a deep breath.

“I do not, _and have never_ hated you, Adrien,” she declared. Adrien blinked at her. They were really going to talk about this? Now? When he had to go?? She looked like she wanted to say more for a moment, but then blushed and looked away again.

“Then why don’t you ever talk to me?” he asked, still puzzled. He scowled. “Is it because of my father? I know he’s a big name in fashion and all, but if he’s said something to you…”

“No! No, that’s not it!” Marinette cut him off, waving her hands. “It’s--I just… er… get a little shy sometimes, that’s all. I’ll try to do better from now on, I promise.” She hung her head a bit, unable to see the frown on Adrien’s face that said he didn’t believe her.

A few moments of very awkward silence passed. Then Plagg groaned, unable to take it anymore.

“We are never going to get anywhere with these two,” he grumbled to Tikki. He floated over to where Adrien was sitting in front of Marinette’s computer. Turning, he looked directly at Marinette.

“Oops,” he said, and deliberately dropped onto the mouse, activating the sleeping computer. Marinette realized what he was doing a second too late, as her screen turned on, revealing—

“DON’T LOOK AT THAT!” she screamed, lunging for the computer, just as Adrien turned to see what his kwami was doing. Unfortunately, Adrien was in her way, and she ended up tackling him to the floor, landing in a heap on top of him.

HER DESKTOP PICTURE!! SHE HAD FORGOTTEN TO CHANGE HER DESKTOP PICTURE!!! OhGodOhGodOhGod—

EEK! SHE HAD JUST KNOCKED ADRIEN TO THE FLOOR!!

“SORRY!” she gasped out, quickly getting off him and scrambling to unplug her screen at the same time. Adrien sat up, rubbing his head and looking at her with a raised eyebrow. “I’m so sorry,” she babbled. “I just—um, panicked and—”

“PLAGG, YOU UNEQUIVACAL BASTARD!” Tikki was screaming as she chased the other kwami around the room as he cackled madly, hitting him furiously with a pillow that was ten times their size. “HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU--!”

Suddenly, Plagg zipped in and tackled Tikki, throwing them both under the covers on the bed. Marinette and Adrien both stared for a moment as the pillow fell to the floor, expecting more shrieking, but the kwamis had gone silent. They looked at each other and Adrien shrugged. He had no idea what had gotten into his kwami.

“Well, well, well,” came a voice from the window. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

The two Miraculous wielders gasped and spun. Their jaws dropped at the same time.

“LILA??”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional disclaimer: I am also not affiliated with Gak. Buy it if you want to, but it feels freaky to me.
> 
> Next, Chapter 4: In Which Adrien Really Hates Fangirls (like, a lot.)


	4. In Which Adrien Really Hates Fangirls

** Issues  **

_“They look at me and think I'm cool. I'm Cat Noir. At night, I rule.” -Miraculous Theme_

**Chapter 4: In Which Adrien Really Hates Fangirls**

 

Adrien and Marinette scrambled to their feet as Lila dropped into the room from the window. No doubt about it, it was the girl who had transferred to their school earlier that month, but… WHY WAS SHE AKUMATIZED AGAIN?? The orange Volpina outfit should’ve been long gone, cured by Ladybug and gone forever! But here she was, sauntering towards Adrien with a smirk on her face.

“Hello, Adrien,” she cooed, getting between him and Marinette and batting her eyelashes at him. “I’ve had such a hard time finding you! Why did you turn off your phone? It’s sooo hard to track when it’s not turned on. But I understand if you didn’t want anyone to know that you were hanging out with the _rabble_.” Marinette clenched her fists, resisting the urge to throttle the vixen right then and there.

“Uh… hi, Lila… you were… tracking me?” Adrien said, backing away from her and looking very uncomfortable.

“Part of being a superhero,” she said lightly, flicking her hair proudly. “Your father asked me to look after you.”

“My father did?” Adrien asked, incredulous.

“Yes! Haven’t you been watching the news? I made the announcement that _I_ would be protecting Paris from now on over an hour ago! And your father immediately called the hotline I set up and told me you’d been missing all afternoon, so of course I made you my top priority,” Lila gushed, pressing close to him again.

“Um, excuse me,” Marinette interjected, feeling very put out at being ignored in her own room. “You’re _not_ a superhero, remember? You’re another akuma victim. Ladybug and Cat Noir have—”

“Oh, it’s _you_ ,” Lila said, turning towards the other girl. “The girl who couldn’t handle the power she was offered,” she sneered.

“Excuse me?” Marinette exclaimed, bristling.

“Marinette fought off the akuma,” Adrien argued, defending his friend. “Which is what you need to do, Lila. You can’t let Hawkmoth control you like this. Let Ladybug and Cat Noir help you!”

“Hawkmoth has given me the power to defeat Ladybug and Cat Noir!” Lila snarled, turning on him. “Now all of Paris can depend on _me_ to be their superhero! We won’t have to listen to that self-righteous bug or stupid cat ever again! And nothing,” she added, smiling and taking Adrien’s hand in hers, “can ever keep us apart.”

“I can think of at least two things wrong with that statement,” the so-called “self-righteous bug” grumbled beside them.

Lila growled at her. “Enough!” she spat, swinging her flute and hitting Marinette into the wall behind her. The stunned girl fell to the floor. Lila used her grip on Adrien to pull him away as he tried to run to her.

“Come on, Adrien,” she said. “Let’s go somewhere we can be _alone_!” With that, she threw him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes and flew out the window again.

Marinette shook her head to clear it and tried to stand up from where she’d fallen.

“Tikki?” she called, still seeing spots.

“Oh dear, this is really bad,” Tikki said, swooping over to her, Plagg following behind. “If she’s been akumatized again, she’ll be very unstable! You need to stop her, quick!”

“Oh no,” Marinette groaned, still holding her head.

“Really rang your bell, huh, kid?” Plagg said.

Marinette blinked at him, then gasped in horror. “Why aren’t you with Adrien??” she cried.

“Uh, evil supervillain in the room,” he reminded her, shrugging. “I couldn’t get to him.”

“Triple not good,” Tikki said.

“Oh, no, no, no,” Marinette said, panicking. “Adrien can’t defend himself! What are we going to do???”

“Uh, transform?” Tikki reminded her.

“Oh, right!” Marinette said brightly.

Plagg looked at Tikki. “Is she always like this?”

“Worse,” Tikki told him solemnly.

“Enough, you two!” Marinette said sternly. “Tikki, spots on!”

* * *

 

“Lila, wait! –Slow down! –Can’t we—talk about this?” Adrien gasped out as Lila continued jumping from building to building. He was fairly certain she was doing it to disorient him or something; last time she had been able to fly. Of course, if she was flying, he would’ve been able to thrash around and maybe break loose (ok, not the best idea, but he also didn’t like the idea of going somewhere with his kidnapper), so yeah, she was probably doing it on purpose.

Of course, if she kept doing it, he was going to literally lose his cookies… and they had been so good too.

One final jump took them up, up, up higher than before, and Adrien looked around and sighed. The Eiffel Tower. Of course. Hadn’t she threatened to drop him from here before? Nevermind that it had been an illusion, he still didn’t like the idea. She probably planned to taunt Ladybug again, and this time it would actually be him… ugh. Yeah, he really didn’t want to think about it.

“Here we are!” she sang cheerfully, (finally!) putting him down on the platform. “Don’t worry, Adrien. I just have to get Ladybug and Cat Noir’s Miraculous, and then we won’t ever have to worry about them getting in the way of _us_ again!”

“Yeah, about that, Lila,” Adrien said, rubbing his sore stomach.

“Volpina,” she corrected him, smiling and getting into his personal space again. He backed up a step.

“All right, Volpina, then,” he agreed. “The thing is, I kinda like Ladybug and Cat Noir, so….”

“What?” she stared at him, wide-eyed.

“…can you, I dunno, _not_ try to destroy them?” he asked, scratching the back of his neck. A purple mask appeared on Volpina’s face and Adrien scowled, wondering what Hawkmoth was telling her now. The mask disappeared and Volpina’s expression cleared, as though all her questions had been answered.

“Of course, I see it now,” she said, straightening and looking even more determined than before. “Ladybug has brainwashed you! She wants to keep you all to herself!” She cried, shaking her fist at an imagined enemy.

Adrien gaped at her. Ladybug wanting him all to herself? _That would actually be… awesome_ , he wanted to say. _But Ladybug doesn’t feel that way about me_. _Unless, of course… maybe…._

“Well, she’s already got Cat Noir!” Volpina continued on her tirade. “I won’t let her have you too! We belong together!!”

Adrien head drooped. Aaand… that was where this got tricky.

“I don’t think so, Volpina!” a new voice called. Adrien’s heart leapt. Ladybug! Sure enough, the red-clad superhero swung down in front of them. Volpina immediately ran to Adrien and put him in a headlock with her flute. Adrien decided to remain still. He wasn’t in an indestructible suit right now, after all. Ladybug’s eyes narrowed.

“I don’t know about you, but kidnapping and holding someone hostage aren’t exactly romantic where I come from,” she said, walking forward and twirling her yo-yo.

“Well, there’s always Stockholm Syndrome,” Adrien said, with a nervous laugh.

Ladybug rolled her eyes at him. “Not helping, Adrien,” she groaned.

“I’ll shut up now.”

“What? No tom cat today, Ladybug?” Volpina taunted.

“Oh, he’s probably planning on pouncing on you from behind at any moment,” Ladybug smirked. Adrien raised an eyebrow, but it had the intended effect on Volpina, who quickly began looking around, hissing.

“You and your stupid stray don’t scare me!” she shouted, grabbing Adrien around the middle.

“And we’re back to jumping again,” he grumbled, as Volpina tried to take them higher on the Eiffel Tower. Ladybug’s yo-yo caught Adrien’s foot halfway up, and he gave a yelp as he was suddenly pulled in two different directions.

“No!” Volpina screamed, as she felt him being jerked downwards. “Let go, _he’s mine_!!” She tried to pull him back up, and suddenly Adrien had a whole new appreciation for people who were tortured using a rack.

“Ladybug!” he gasped. She seemed to catch on and immediately released him, sending him and Volpina shooting upwards into the tower. Volpina crashed into one of the beams above them and involuntarily let go of Adrien, causing him to fall back down.

“Adrien!” Ladybug cried, and he heard her yo-yo zip towards him. Relieved, he twisted so he could help her catch him mid-air, but an orange streak flew between them at the last second.

“NO!” Volpina screeched, beating Ladybug back with her flute. “IF I CAN’T HAVE HIM, NO ONE WILL!!”

Desperate, Ladybug made a throw with her yo-yo. But it wasn’t directed at Volpina, or the flute she was using to hit her rival. It shot straight at Adrien. He caught it and held it tight, even as it hit him in the stomach, shooting him over to the side of the tower. The wire went taut and swung him all the way around a beam. Just his bad luck, he came to a stop just under the beam and against the side of another one, instead of on top. The smooth surfaces of the beams were not really great for pulling himself up, and next beam down was waay too far down for him to fall without the catsuit. Still clutching the lifeline of the yo-yo, he looked over and felt the blood drain from his face as he realized what his partner had done.

Instead of casting her weapon to defend herself, she had used it to save him. Now she was dangling from the other end of the yo-yo, also caught on the side of a beam on the other side of the tower, bleeding on the side of her head, with Volpina laughing triumphantly above her.

“And now, I will have your Miraculous!” Volpina crowed, “and nothing will get in the way of me being with the one I love!!”

“That’s— not love,” Ladybug gasped out, trying to pull herself into a better position. “Lying. Tricking someone into thinking you’re something you’re not. Forcing them to be with you when you know they’d rather be with someone else… that’s not love! You’re thinking about him as nothing more than a possession!”

“So?” Volpina sneered.

“Adrien deserves better that that!” Ladybug snapped.

“Oh, what would you know?” Volpina asked carelessly. “You just care about his pretty face. It’s not like you know Adrien—”

“Yes, I do,” Ladybug said. “Adrien is sweet, and kind, and loves his friends more than anything. He’s not spoiled or vain, even if his pictures are all over town. He’s smart and brave, and fun to be around, and always a perfect gentleman.” Her eyes met Adrien’s for a moment. “And he deserves better,” she finished softly. Adrien stared at her. Why did it feel like she was adding on ‘ _than me_ ’ to that statement? Didn’t she know what she meant to him?

“Better?” Volpina repeated sarcastically. “You think you’re _better_ than me? He’ll get _better_. He’ll get _the best!_ Just as soon as I defeat you!”

Adrien looked up and saw her raise her flute to strike Ladybug again. _He’d had enough of hanging around here!_ Bracing his feet on the beam next to him, he pushed off, hard.

“Ladybug!” he cried, letting go of the yo-yo. Her eyes went wide as she realized what he intended. Without his weight, the yo-yo snapped back to her, and she fell with him. Volpina’s strike missed and they heard her shriek above them as she overcorrected.

Ladybug grinned at him in midair. “Idiot,” she said fondly, throwing the yo-yo again and catching him as she swung by. Adrien chuckled as he clung to her. They had a head start. Volpina would never catch them in time.

Ladybug put him down at the Trocadero; plenty of places for him to go hide and transform. As soon as they were clear, Plagg flew out of her hair to nuzzle against Adrien.

“Next time, tell your girlfriend to try not to get hit where I’m hiding!” he whined, then zipped inside Adrien’s jacket.

“I wasn’t trying to get hit at all,” Ladybug grumbled crossly, wiping the last of the blood from her temple. Thanks to her Miraculous, the wound was already healed. A loud, distant scream interrupted them and they turned to see a swirling black cloud forming at the Eiffel Tower.

“Well, that’s going to darken our day,” Adrien remarked wryly.

“Run and hide,” Ladybug ordered, running towards it. “I’ll distract her!”

Adrien was about to argue when he realized they had gained a small crowd of viewers. Probably why Plagg had been so eager to hide. Calling to them, he started herding the crowd away from the billowing black clouds that were already overhead, and the faint, somehow ominous sound of a flute. But there was no way he was letting Ladybug take her on again alone. As soon as people were sufficiently running, he hid behind a column.

_“Plagg, claws out!”_

No sooner had he leapt out as Cat Noir than Lila’s magnified voice boomed out around him, coming from the cloud.

“ **LADYBUG HAS HURT ME FOR THE LAST TIME!** ” she screamed, “ **SINCE SHE HAS TAKEN THE ONE I LOVE, I WILL TAKE HERS! NOW SHE’LL HAVE TO SEE WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO SEE HIM WITH ANOTHER WOMAN! I AM REIGNING FANGIRL! WOMEN OF PARIS, CAT NOIR IS NOW YOURS!!** ” With an enormous thunderclap, the unnatural cloud started raining.

“Are you kidding me??” Cat Noir yelled as the rain poured down all around him. But he couldn’t help laughing. “Reigning Fangirl. _Raining_ Fangirl! Oh, Ladybug’s gonna love this one!” Actually, she would probably start banging her head on the side of the Eiffel Tower, but—oh. Oh my.

“Hello, ladies,” he said, uneasily, realizing he was surrounded by women, who were staring at him with unnerving grins and wicked glints in their eyes. “So sorry, but this cat’s gotta scat!” He said, quickly drawing his baton and using it to vault away from them.

However, for fangirls, they were tricky, and grabbed at the pole instead, shaking it. He fell out of his leap with a yelp. Then they were on him.

* * *

 

Ladybug, meanwhile, was doing slightly better than her counterpart. By sheer luck (thank you, Tikki!), she had been under a roof when it had started raining, and her Lucky Charm had produced an umbrella hat. The rainwater didn’t affect her when it hit the suit, but she wasn’t willing to chance it hitting her in the head, where she was far less protected. The hat looked ridiculous, but anything was better than turning into one of those women who were moaning Cat Noir’s name. Yes, it was as bad as it sounded. No, it would not help defeat the akuma right now. Or help her with her _already extremely complicated_ feelings for her partner and friend.

Not to mention, he’d never let her live it down.

Lila, or Volpina, or Reigning Fangirl, or whatever-she-was-calling-herself-now, didn’t seem to be affected by the rain either. Her costume had turned dark grey with a big red heart on her chest and a crown on her head instead of fox ears. Her flute was still there, though it looked more like a scepter now, and she was happily attempting to beat Ladybug into oblivion with it. Ladybug was having a hard time exchanging blows and trying not to get her exposed skin splashed by rainwater at the same time.

Still, she was holding her own, she thought, as her foot connected with Lila’s gut in a very satisfactory way. A sweep of the yo-yo kept the remaining hoard of fangirls away for a few more minutes (all of them with glowing red eyes, hissing “Cat Noir will be mine!” or other, very creepy things at her) as she tried to figure out where the akuma was this time.

It couldn’t be the necklace again, could it? Hawkmoth would have to be a special brand of stupid…. It had changed into a big heart to go along with the rest of her outfit, but that didn’t mean anything. Akumas often changed form.

“ _Cataclysm_!” Cat Noir’s voice shouted. Ladybug looked up, just in time to see him descending on Lila with his hand outstretched. Horrified, she could only watch as he attempted to grab the necklace. (Oh God, oh God, please don’t let him miss!!) At the last second, however, Lila brought up her scepter to defend herself. It blocked the hit, but Lila paled as her weapon crumbled to dust.

“NOOOO!!” she wailed as an akuma flittered away from the remains. Apparently, Hawkmoth _was_ a special brand of stupid. Putting the akuma in a melee weapon? _Really_?

Still, it made it easier for her! Ladybug swiftly caught and purified the little butterfly. Lila’s new outfit dissolved into her regular everyday wear and the black clouds above them immediately vanished, causing the warm sun to shine down. Ladybug was about to toss her umbrella hat and call for the Cure when—

Cheering broke out around them from the women still surrounding them.

“Way to go, Cat Noir!”

“He did it! He did it!!”

“Good job, Cat Noir!”

“Cat Noir, I love you!!”

“Marry me, Cat Noir!!”

Ladybug covered her mouth with her hand. Her partner didn’t usually get much adoration from the masses (which was stupid, she thought, as he easily did as much as she did), so surely she could let the spell go on for just a little bit… he must be loving this!

She snuck a glance at him and promptly burst out laughing.

He was standing there like an irritable kitten, soaked to the bone, and glaring at her as the women all around him vied for his attention. He was also covered, head-to-toe, in lipstick kisses.

“Hawkmoth,” he deadpanned, “is evil.”

Ladybug couldn’t help it. She doubled over, laughing.

“It’s not funny!” he whined. “Miraculous Cure, please, Ladybug!”

“All right, all right,” she agreed, wiping her eyes. Before she could throw her umbrella hat up, however, she caught movement behind her out of the corner of her eye, and turned to see Lila running at her. She spun to defend herself, but to her surprise, Lila stopped just before she got to her and flung something in her eyes.

_Rainwater_ , Ladybug realized, but it was already too late. As soon as the cold water hit her face, her body suddenly felt warmer. Too warm. All over. The heat made her gasp and fall to her knees.

“Ladybug!” she heard Cat Noir shout. It was the most beautiful sound in the world. It was strong, the tone was perfect, and he sounded concerned! For her!

_Of course he was concerned! He was her partner!_ Another voice in her head argued. She shook her head, trying to clear it. She had to think!

_Think about him, she meant!_ she thought as he started shouting again. He sounded angry. She giggled. Angry kitty. She bet she could make him purr—

_NO! Stop it! Snap out of it!_ Her inner voice screamed. _You have something to do! To make it all better!_ But what… she couldn’t remember….

Meanwhile, Cat Noir was making no headway with his “fans.” All he had been able to see was his partner fall to the ground after Lila stopped in front of her. He needed to make sure Ladybug was all right! But these _fangirls_!! They wouldn’t leave him alone, no matter how much he yelled at them to get out of his way so he could get to Ladybug.

“But I love you, Cat Noir!”

“You don’t need her!”

“Here, kitty kitty!”

“I’ll be your Ladybug!”

“I’ll be your _Lovebug_!!”

Wherever Hawkmoth was, Cat Noir hoped he died choking on his laughter. Beyond his crowd, Lila was standing there, smirking. His eyes narrowed.

“All right!” he yelled, clapping his hands to get their attention. “Everyone who loves me, listen up!” The crowd went silent. He pointed his finger at Lila. “That girl there has made me very angry! Capture her! Alive!”

Cat Noir wasn’t sure if Ladybug would ever forgive him, but the satisfaction of watching Lila go pale as the crowd instantly turned on her: priceless. In less than ten seconds, they had her pinned to the ground, all of them growling different iterations of “she’ll pay!” or “how dare she upset my Cat Noir!”

Meanwhile, he darted over to his downed partner, who was gasping and shaking her head.

“Ladybug! Ladybug! Are you okay?” he asked, kneeling next to her. She sucked in her breath and looked up at him. He noticed with a start that her pupils were almost completely dilated and she was flushed.

“Cat Noir,” she whispered, reaching up to stroke his face. Warning bells went off in his head and he pulled back a bit.

“My lady?” he asked hesitantly. Something was wrong with her. She hadn’t answered his question, when she would usually immediately assure him that she was all right, and she was never this _affectionate_. Not that he minded, of course….

“Kitty,” she murmured, her hand reaching up to rake through his hair and then tug on his cat ears. He felt himself blushing. Okay, that felt _really_ good. She giggled. “My kitty.”

His entire body warmed at that, and he found himself pulling her closer (which she immediately snuggled into!). He smiled as she nuzzled his neck and suddenly both of her hands were in his hair, playing. This was bliss. This was heaven!

“You smell so good, Adrien,” she whispered into his neck. A spike of cold went down his back.

This was _wrong_.

He looked around quickly to make sure nobody had heard her and saw that while his fangirls had captured Lila, (as per his orders,) they were now glaring at the superhero cuddle-puddle nearby. He didn’t think they were close enough to hear, but…. Something was definitely wrong. Ladybug wouldn’t make a mistake like that! She wouldn’t try to out him to a whole crowd!

And while his body was responding _very_ positively to the little kisses she was giving his jawline, the sad, cold reality of it was… it wasn’t like her. She was—he nearly smacked himself for his stupidity. She was under the influence. The rainwater. That was what Lila had done. He hadn’t been able see exactly what happened through the crowd but….

“Ladybug,” he said, pushing her away slightly. She whined and clung to him.

“Cat,” she whispered, pulling him back down for a kiss. He felt a jolt go straight through his heart as their lips met. This was what he’d always wanted. What he’d dreamed of. And Hawkmoth had taken it and turned it into something else.

_He was going to shred him to pieces with his bare claws._

“Stop,” he said, turning his head away. Ladybug froze and pulled back, her eyes filling with tears.

“You don’t want me?” she asked, her voice trembling. It very nearly broke him. He wanted to take her in his arms and give her all the kisses she could take! He wanted her. So, _so_ much.

“You know I do,” he said, giving her a winning smile as he drew them both back to their feet. _But not like this._ As if on cue, her earrings and his ring both beeped. He glanced at her earrings and sighed. She didn’t have much time left, and she hadn’t even reacted at all to the timer. That alone was proof she wasn’t in her right mind. He’d have to help her a bit more than usual this time.

“We’ve just gotta do something first, okay?” he said. Her face brightened like a kid on Christmas Day.

“Then we’ll be together?” she asked eagerly.

“Forever and always,” he promised, chuckling as he reached for her umbrella hat and put it in her hands. She beamed at him, stars in her eyes. He committed it to memory, even as he forced himself to continue. “Now, I want you to throw this as high as you can and shout ‘Miraculous Ladybug!’ Okay? For me?”

“Anything for you,” she agreed. She threw it high. “Miraculous Ladybug!!”

Cat Noir watched with bittersweet amusement as the swarm of magical ladybugs spun around them and everyone else on the tower. He still had one arm on Ladybug’s waist (and didn’t intend to remove it anytime soon, thank you! She might need… steadying. Yeah. That was it.) while he watched her shake her head again and blink a couple of times before her expression went back to normal.

He suppressed a pout. He’d get a real kiss from her eventually.

“Feeling better?” he asked, nearly purring. The part of him that was Cat Noir couldn’t resist teasing her a bit. Ladybug looked up at him, then down at where his arm was still on her waist, then back up at him… and flushed bright red before hiding her face in her hands.

“Oh no… what did I do?” she moaned.

“Aww, nothing too bad,” he drawled, enjoying this waaay too much. “There were kisses, some light petting, I’m pretty sure you asked me to marry you—”

“I did not!” she yelped, hitting him lightly.

“You remember?” he asked, surprised.

She whimpered and shook her head before burying her face in her hands again. “No, I don’t…,” she groaned, “Oh no. Please tell me I didn’t kiss you _again_ because of a stupid _akuma_ ….”

“Wait, _again_?” Cat Noir asked, latching onto that very interesting bit of information. She looked at him, guilty and wide-eyed.

“Err… I mean… um… Forget I said that!” she stammered. Their Miraculous beeped again; hers was almost out. Relief flooded her face and she ducked out of his grasp. “Ah, it’s a miracle! Gotta go!”

“We’re not done talking about this!” he called after her as she swung away. He smirked. He knew just where to find her when he was ready to talk. And he wasn’t going to let up until he had _all_ the details!

He was still grinning as he turned away and saw Lila still tied up on the ground nearby. He cocked his head. That was odd. His fangirls were gone. Usually the Cure fixed everything, didn’t it? His grin faded as he saw her cheeks were stained with tears, even if she tried to hide it by keeping her head down.

Quickly, he ducked out of sight and released his transformation, handing Plagg a piece of cheese before the kwami could even open his mouth. Then, trying to be careful, he crept around to her other side before emerging as Adrien.

“Are you all right, Lila?” he asked softly, stopping what he considered a safe distance away.

“Adrien!” Lila exclaimed, her head shooting up. She tried to get up, but the ropes held tight. Still, she smiled up at him. “Hey, sorry about before,” she said, laughing lightly. “I guess I wasn’t myself. But don’t worry, I’m all better now,” she assured him. “Ladybug cured me, just like you wanted. So now, we can be together!”

“Yeah, um…, about that,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, “I’m kind of already involved with someone else….” _She just doesn’t know it yet._

“What?” she stared at him in disbelief.

“Look, I’m sure you’re… _nice_ ,” he said, trying hard not to add ‘ _when you’re not going crazy’_ in there, “but I don’t think it’s going to work out between us.”

“You can’t-,” she stammered. “You can’t be serious! Adrien! After everything I’ve done! After everything you’ve put me through!” He raised an eyebrow. Seriously? _She_ had just kidnapped _him_ (again!), held his life in danger, and _he_ was the one to blame? “You can’t just leave me here all alone!! You can’t—!”

“Oh, I won’t,” he assured her, pulling out his phone. “I’ll wait here until the police show up. Then they’ll take you home and I’ll go have a chat with my father about hiring supervillains to protect me. Seriously,” he added, rolling his eyes, “the Gorilla is bad enough.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next, Chapter 5: In Which Cats Are a Problem (well, one in particular)


	5. In Which Cats Are a Problem (well, one in particular)

** Issues **

“ _I am a cat, just chillin’ out. But in the night, she’s all I think about.” -Miraculous Theme_

**Chapter 5: In Which Cats Are a Problem (well, one in particular)**

Natalie was just as efficient as ever, responding to Adrien’s call and getting to the Tower even before the police. Lila was still alternating between crying that she loved him and screaming that this was all his fault to begin with (both of which he was ignoring at this point). By the time she had quieted down to a sulking silence, all it took was a phone call and a word with the police before she was bodily carried off to an ambulance, probably to check her mental stability or something. He’d have to ask Plagg what the long-term effects were for being akumatized multiple times.

The car ride back to house was quiet. Adrien apologized for turning off his phone, explaining that he had been helping a friend get through some troubles and hadn’t wanted to be disturbed. (It was not even untrue.)

His father met them in the foyer, and Adrien didn’t even bother looking at the man as he was asked a few brief questions (and no apologies for sending a supervillain after him!). Then Adrien was sent to his room. Gabriel Agreste had an important dinner party. He would talk to his son later.

_Hmph. Yeah, right._

At least he didn’t have to go this time.

After a long shower (fangirls, ugh!) and a quick supper, he quietly asked Natalie not to disturb him, since he wanted to go to bed early. A few minutes later, Cat Noir was racing across the rooftops of Paris again, the moon high over his shoulder.

He landed on Marinette’s balcony quietly, very much aware that her parents might have some strong opinions to her having a boy in a leather catsuit in her room after dark. Still, it didn’t stop him as he tapped three times on her hatch.

Her head popped out and she groaned. “Cat Noir, there were _three_ akumas today! _THREE_. Can’t this wait?”

“Well, that depends on how you want to count them,” he countered, crouching down so he was closer to her. “I think you only counted as half an akuma. Unless you’re counting Lila as one-and-a-half?”

“I can’t _do_ numbers right now,” she grumbled, rubbing her eyes.

“I won’t be long,” he promised. He was tired too, but he really didn’t want to go back home yet. It was cold, and dark, and there was too much for him to think about if he was left all alone.

Sighing, she let him in. He dropped down to her lounge area, noticing how exhausted she looked. He suppressed a pout. He really would have to be quick. But he wanted—he wanted to just be near her for a while! Her room was a beacon of light and warmth… and _comfort_. But at the same time, energizing. Weird.

“Do you want a snack?” she asked, looking over her shoulder at him.

“Do you have any more cookies?” he asked hopefully. She nodded and headed downstairs to get them. He took a quick glance at her computer and couldn’t help it! Trying to appear innocent, he tapped one of the keys, waking it up. To his disappointment, the screen had a generic background, but he suppressed a pout. He hadn’t been homebound for so long without learning a few tricks! He slid into the chair and prepared to work some magic. A few more taps on the keys and—BAM! Previous desktop backgrounds. And… _oh my!_ Cat Noir felt a wide grin spreading on his face. No wonder Plagg had been laughing so hard! Those were some sparkly hearts….

Tikki floated down in front of his face, glaring at him in disapproval. He jumped back with a squawk.

“He’s corrupted you,” she said flatly.

“Aww, don’t say that, little lady,” he said, trying to charm her with his smile. Her glare narrowed. He pouted. “But I only got a peek before!” he protested.

“Marinette,” Tikki called. Cat Noir stood and tried to hush her, in vain. “There’s a reason why you shouldn’t leave pets unattended!”

“What are you talk—” Marinette was halfway up the stairs when she saw them. “CAT—!!” she whisper-screamed, glancing downstairs. He whirled around and whistled innocently, which turned into a (not-so) innocent smile when he saw Marinette glaring at him from the top of her stairs.

“Isn’t there a saying about curiosity killing the cat?” she growled, stalking towards him.

“There is,” he admitted, hands up in surrender. Still, he couldn’t help himself!! “But satisfaction brought it back! And you have to admit, I can _rock_ pink sparkles.” He grinned at her and gave her a wink.

Marinette stopped mid-stride and blushed bright red. Cat Noir couldn’t hold back the laugh bubbling out of him as he fell back into the chair and twirled around to study the picture closer. _This was worth more than gold!! And it was making her blush!! She was so cute when she blushed!_

“How long did it take you to make this?” he asked, looking at all the different pictures she had added to the collage. They were all from different magazines, at different times, so it must’ve taken her awhile to collect them all and— Then she was beside him, clicking out of the window.

“Naughty kitties get no cookies,” she said, folding her arms with a huff.

“Aww, don’t say that, _purr_ incess,” he whined, giving her puppy-dog eyes. “I _purr_ omise I’ll be good!”

She buried her face in her hand, making a strangled sound caught somewhere between a laugh and a groan. “Cat—”

“Do I at least get some milk?”

“No way!” she said, stomping her foot. “I’m mad at you!”

He held out his arms, inviting her to come sit on his lap. “Can I kiss it better?”

He knew he’d gone too far when he saw her pale and back up instead of blushing more. Or yelling at him. Or making a joke about it. But before she could bolt (and before he could think about what he was doing), he shot forward and wrapped her in a tight hug.

“Sorry, I’m sorry,” he muttered frantically. “That was too much. Too far. Please, don’t—I….” Inside he cursed himself. He was used to flirting with her and being pushed away no matter what he tried. But now….

“I’m sorry too,” Marinette mumbled into his chest. “I don’t know how to act around you anymore.” A small, helpless laugh left him.

“Me either,” he admitted. This was all so much to take in! Before, no matter what, he’d always known his partner would be there. The teasing didn’t mean anything, because the masks would eventually come off. Now… if he pushed too much… would she go away forever? He let her go, just enough to look at her. She was blushing again. _Progress_. Maybe a step back was a step in the right direction?

“I liked what we had before. Friends forever, right?” he suggested with a smile. She tentatively smiled back. _Definite progress_. Still, he hated to back down completely… maybe just a _little_ more flirting? “Of course, if you want to be _more_ than friends….”

“Caaaaaat,” Marinette whined. He grinned at her, seeing her old humor back.

“All right, all right, I won’t push,” he said, holding his hands up in surrender. _For now…._ “But if you won’t talk about our future, maybe we should talk about the past?” He suggested, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. “I’m more interested in hearing about this _other kiss_ anyway.”

She stared at him for a moment, then sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. She had known _this_ was coming.

“Dark Cupid. Last Valentine’s Day,” she explained, walking past him to sit at the computer he had activated; bringing up the Ladyblog. “You were under his spell and the first thing that came to mind was what we’d just learned in class that day about waking people up from magic spells.”

“The prince kissing the princess?” he smiled, leaning on her chair. Then realized-- “Hey, that makes you the prince!” Marinette let out a little laugh of her own.

“Well, you _were_ in distress, Damsel Kitty,” she smirked up at him and then turned back to the Blog. “I’m surprised you haven’t seen this yet. I thought you were a fan.”

“Oh, I am, My Lady Prince.”

She snorted in laughter. A couple more clicks showed a picture of Ladybug on the ground, kissing the Cat Noir above her. He felt his jaw drop.

“That was real??” he exclaimed, peering closer at the screen. “I thought it was a photoshop Alya did for Valentine’s Day!”

“Nope.”

“So, what’s with those black spots around us?” he asked furrowing his brow. He’d always wondered why Alya had included them in the picture. Shouldn’t they be red hearts or something?

“You were… err… trying to use your Cataclysm on me,” Marinette admitted.

“I _WHAT_??” he shouted, jumping back in horror. She shushed him quickly, glancing over at the stairs up to her room. He covered his mouth. Oops. That had been louder than he intended.

“You were under a spell,” she reminded him quietly. “You missed, I got you out of it, we defeated the bad guy, pound it. Another day, another akuma.”

“Still.” He felt weak.

“ _Marinette_?” Tom’s voice called. “ _Is everything all right up there?_ ”

“Yes, Papa, sorry to wake you,” Marinette called back. She and Cat Noir shared an “eek” glance and he quickly leapt onto her bed and out the hatch. And not a moment too soon. Her father’s head appeared and Marinette spun around in her chair to face him with an innocent smile.

“I was, uh… just looking at… the Ladyblog! And this old photo of Ladybug and Cat Noir kissing!” There was no doubt about it: she was a bad liar. The only thing to really distract him—go for shock value— “It’s just, if you look at it right… I mean, are they using tongue??”

Out on her balcony, she heard something crash.

She gave her father another innocent smile. “Must be a stray cat,” she said through her teeth. Then she gestured to her computer. “So, what do you think?”

As she thought, her father rubbed his neck in embarrassment. “I think you need to go to bed,” he said, barely glancing at the photo and flushing. “And I think any more questions about kissing would be best answered by your mother.”

“Ok, Papa, good night,” she quickly agreed, waving. Tom retreated down the stairs.

Marinette breathed a sigh of relief and quickly followed Cat Noir’s path up the stairs and out to her balcony. Said Cat was standing there, sheepishly holding what was left of one of her favorite potted plants.

“I am so sorry,” he said, still flustered. “I’ll buy you a new one, I promise.”

“It’s fine, Cat Noir,” she sighed, taking it from him and putting it in the corner where she could clean it up in the morning. “But you really should get going.”

“Right,” he agreed, dusting off his hands. Then he looked at her and grinned, taking her hand and bringing it up for a kiss. “Sweet dreams, milady princess.”

She couldn’t help the blush that spread over her face. “J-j-just go,” she stammered, “before you break any more of my pots.”

He gave her a bow, but smirked at her as he turned to leave.

“You know, technically, that was kind of your fault,” he drawled. “Talking about that kiss.” She turned redder and prepared to defend herself, but he wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively. “So, tongue?”

Flustered and defensive, she grabbed the nearest weapon, a spray bottle, and spritzed him. “Not on your life!”

He yelped and quickly retreated, but he was laughing as he left. “Good thing I’ve got nine!!”

* * *

 

“I don’t get it, Plagg,” Adrien said as he flopped down on his bed. “Before I left I was tired and crabby, and now, even though it’s later, I feel…” _Excited. Happy. Warm. Light and free._ “…good!”

“That’s because Ladybug’s your other half, kid,” Plagg said, happily floating around his wielder’s head with an extra-large piece of camembert. “Just being together will make you feel more balanced and energetic. If you ever get injured, stay with her as long as you can. You’ll heal faster. And bring lots of camembert. So _I_ heal faster!” He gulped down his cheese and swooped in for another wedge.

Adrien chuckled and threw his arm over his face. “Awesome. Marinette comes with extra perks.” Then he realized what he’d just said and blushed. “Not that I—I didn’t mean it that way!” he said quickly.

“Su-ure, you didn’t,” Plagg drawled, grinning mischievously.

“Status buffs! That’s what I meant! Like in a game!!”

“Uh huh, she’s buffing something alright!”

“ _Plagg_!!”

The kwami cracked up, cackling wildly as Adrien grabbed a pillow and covered his flushed face. Plagg finally settled down with yet another piece of cheese.

“At least you’re not sitting in front of the Blog _pining_ anymore,” he said with satisfaction. “You wanted the Lady, you got the Lady. And I helped! I’ll take my thank you in brie and camembert, please!” Adrien half-heartedly threw his pillow at his kwami, grinning. It missed.

“You’ve still got two wheels,” he muttered, his mind still focusing on everything he’d learned tonight. Mostly about a certain girl with a tendency to do crazy things…. The night before, he’d stayed up late, pacing and worrying about their reveal and what it meant. He’d resigned himself to the idea that Ladybug _really_ didn’t like him and he’d have to work twice as hard to win her affections… and he was determined to win her affections!! _But now_! Everything that had happened today! Pictures, and kisses, and pictures of kisses…!!

As well as the other thing that had been in that particular picture…. His elation deflated quickly as reality kicked in. Buzz-kill. He frowned and looked at his hand.

“Plagg,” he asked slowly, “what would happen if I _did_ hit somebody with my Cataclysm?”

“Do I even need to answer that, kid?”

Adrien’s stomach clenched and he felt sick. _So close_. He’d been so close to doing it and he hadn’t even been in control of himself. What if, next time… he made a fist. No, he couldn’t let there be a next time! He sat up quickly.

“Plagg, I will feed you camembert until you pop if you tell me how to stop Hawkmoth from taking me over again,” he said.

Plagg looked at him with an eyebrow raised. “You’re overthinking it,” he said, gulping down another mouthful.

“No, I’m not,” Adrien argued. Plagg sighed and rolled his eyes. “It’s not funny, Plagg!” he exclaimed. “I could’ve killed her! And now Hawkmoth’s gone after everyone in my class but me! What if he tries to akumatize me next? What if she’s not there to stop it?? What if—gah!”  He held his face in his hands, getting a headache thinking of all the possibilities.

_What if he’s saved me for last for a reason?_

_What if I turn into an evil Cat Noir and start hurting people? Or even killing them??_

_What if I have to fight Ladybug??? Ugh, of course I’ll have to fight Ladybug!_

_What if I--??_

“Aww geez, the answers are right in front of you, dummy,” Plagg said, still hanging onto his cheese and savoring it bit by bit. “You’re overthinking it. _That’s_ how he gets to you. Just be yourself. Tell jokes instead of getting angry. Think about Ladybug. That always makes you happy, right? Being _in_ _love_. After all, it’s probably what broke _her_ out of it today.”

Adrien smiled at that. He couldn’t help it. The best thing that had happened all day….

“I’m still trying to process the idea: Marinette had a crush on me!” he laughed. That other picture! With his photos and pink hearts and sparkles all over…!! It changed everything! _She didn’t hate him_. She had never hated him! She wasn’t still mad at him for some stupid gum prank, or just being polite because she was awesome like that; Marinette couldn’t talk to him because she liked him! Like, _liked_ _him_ liked him!! Or, at least, she liked him as a model. A fangirl crush. Still, it was a start! Better than nothing!

And Ladybug! Today she had started shouting out everything she thought was good about him! Things he’d never even noticed, or taken for granted; she… she— _dared he say it?_ —she loved him. Nah, too much. He didn’t want to read too much into it. But she definitely liked him when she was Ladybug too! Maybe not as much as he wanted, but… the idea was there. _Ladybug liked him!!_ He grinned and stretched out on his bed again. Yeah, feeling like this, Hawkmoth wouldn’t have a chance of taking him over!!

“Ugh. You two are _disgusting_ , you know that??”

“Oh, be quiet. You’ll get your cheese.”

“Hooray! And the world is beautiful once more!”

That was one thing they could agree on, Adrien thought, still smiling.

* * *

 

Marinette woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. Groaning, she grabbed at it with blurry eyes. That wasn’t her alarm! It was her ringtone! Who could possibly be calling her this early??

“He-hello?” she yawned.

“ _Girl! You have some explaining to do!_ ” Alya screeched in her ear. She sounded far too awake for this hour.

“Alya, I already apologized for skipping out on you yesterday,” she groaned. It had been a text, and she had kept it short for obvious reasons, but still….

_“Whatever, girl. You’re not off the hook just yet! I still want the deets of what you did with Adrien ALL AFTERNOON. But **this**! I am appalled. I am **offended**!! I should’ve been the first one you called!!”_

“What are you talking about?” Marinette asked, confused. If Alya wasn’t talking about her disappearance with Adrien yesterday….

_“GURL! It’s all over the news!! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me! SOMEONE ELSE GOT THE SCOOP ON MY BEST FRIEND AND CAT NOIR!! Do you have any idea how embarrassing that is??”_ Alya yelled.

Marinette felt the blood drain from her face.

“What??”

“ _Marinette_ ,” her father called from downstairs. “ _If you’re awake, I think you need to come down here.”_ He did not sound happy.

“Alya, I gotta go now, bye!” Marinette quickly hung up the phone and scrambled down the stairs.

Her parents were waiting in the living room, standing in front of the TV. Her father turned at her arrival and raised an eyebrow.

“A stray cat, huh?”

Marinette stared at the TV in horror. There, on the news, was a picture of her and Cat Noir on her balcony. It had to have been taken last night! And at just the worst moment too! He was kissing her hand and she was blushing, with a headline proclaiming: CAT NOIR’S SECRET LOVE!!

She stammered nervously at her parents’ expectant expressions.

“I, uh, I can explain this….”

* * *

 

It was impossible to get out of her front door unnoticed. There were reporters everywhere. Fortunately, her father was a smart man, and instead of threatening everyone with lawsuits, or trying to smuggle her out the back door or something silly like that, he simply called them all together so Marinette could make a statement.

She took a deep breath and tried to appear less nervous. She had addressed the press before, of course, but as Ladybug, not Marinette. Oh, how she wished she could put the mask on for this!! But it wouldn’t help. This was Marinette’s problem, not Ladybug’s. At least her father’s hand on her shoulder was a solid support. So, she took another deep breath and started the same story she had given him and her mother. Fortunately, she had now practiced this script, so she didn’t stutter and blush while saying it anymore.

“My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” she began, ignoring the slew of questions that threatened to interrupt her. “Yes, Cat Noir visited me last night, but it was in no way romantic. He came to see me, because yesterday, I was almost akumatized in my class. He was just checking up on me.” Inspiration struck her and she added to her story. “Ladybug also came to check on me a bit earlier yesterday, but I guess the photographer didn’t catch _her_ ,” she said, with a little laugh, “or it wasn’t sensational enough.” The press began muttering amongst themselves. Still feeling a bit resentful of whoever had decided to try to make her out to be some kind of sordid love story, she decided to add a nail to the coffin.

“I know what the picture looks like, but I wish the photographer would’ve taken another one a few seconds later, when I sprayed him with my squirt bottle and chased him off my balcony!” The reporters began laughing. Marinette only got a few more questions, but they were easy to play off.

_Cat_ astrophe over (yup, he was definitely rubbing off on her!), her father patted her back and escorted her to school, even as the press was already dispersing. Probably to go find out who had taken the picture and proclaimed that Cat Noir was having an affair without getting all the facts straight.

Marinette sighed. She’d no doubt have another akuma after her by the end of the day, screaming about how she’d ruined his career. Oh well, Cat Noir owed her one. He’d have to cover her this time. Hopefully he wouldn’t flirt _too_ much.

Her father dropped her off in front of the school. Security was pretty tight, since so many celebrity children went to the school, so the reporters couldn’t ambush her here. He’d also already threatened to get lawyers involved if she was harassed further, since she was still underage.

“You’re sure you’ll be all right?” Tom asked worriedly. She gave him a smile.

“Yes, Papa. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you and Mama the truth last night. I didn’t want to worry you about being almost akumatized,” she said, ducking her head.

“Being akumatized is nothing to be ashamed of,” her father said sternly. “It’s happened to a lot of people, even adults. I’m just proud you fought him off! And I’ll bet Ladybug and Cat Noir were too.”

“Yup, they were pretty happy they didn’t have to fight _another_ villain yesterday,” she laughed. Three in one day was too many. She hoped Hawkmoth had exhausted himself. Like, maybe into a coma?

Her father finally let her go with a wave goodbye. She smiled until she turned around, only to come face to face with Alya, who looked ready to pounce.

“Deets, girl.”

“I’m not dating Cat Noir,” Marinette deadpanned.

“Don’t say that!” Alya exclaimed, her stern expression melting away in an instant as she threw an arm over Marinette’s shoulder. “I already added a whole new section to my blog! The love triangle! The great and powerful Ladybug, who loves the suave, debonair Cat Noir, who falls for the plucky class president!”

“No.”

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! And then you’re in love with Adrien! _It’s a love square_!!” Alya squealed, already tapping on her phone.

“Alya! Don’t you dare publish that!” Marinette exclaimed, cringing at the implications. _My Life: the Soap Opera._ Quickly followed by: _Alya’s seriously going to kill me if she ever finds out our identities._

“And—and! Can you imagine if _Adrien_ was in love with _Ladybug_?? That’d make the whole thing complete!!” There was no stopping her.

“Actually, Alya, I can verify that one,” Nino said, coming up behind them with a grin. “Adrien’s got several Ladybug posters in his room. Apparently, he’s a big fan.”

“Nino,” Marinette moaned, hanging her head as Alya shrieked in happiness, “don’t encourage her, please!”

“Ah, don’t worry, Marinette,” he said. “I’m still rooting for you and Adrien. I didn’t figure you’d go for the leather-catsuit type.”

She gaped at him as he gave her a mischievous wink. Ugh, at least Adrien already knew about her crush now (but she was still mad at him for that!) and wouldn’t find out about it from whatever Alya decided to publish on her blog. (She wasn’t quite convinced her friend wasn’t just teasing her, but… with Alya, who knew sometimes.)

“Nobody did!” said best friend gushed, shaking the arm still draped over Marinette’s shoulders before the girl could protest her innocence again. “But hot damn, is it the talk of the town! So, Marinette, how do you feel about _Marichat_?”

Marinette blinked at her friend for a few seconds before she realized what she was talking about.

“Oh no, Alya!” she cried, “You gave us a _couple name_?!?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next, Chapter 6: In Which There is Too Much Information


	6. In Which There Is Too Much Information

** Issues **

“ _Oh-oh-oh! Oh no, you’ll never know! Oh-oh-oh! My love can only grow!” -Miraculous Theme_

**Chapter 6: In Which There Is Too Much Information**

 

When they finally made it to class, Marinette immediately noticed that both Adrien and Chloe were missing. Maybe they were just late or something? But Nino was looking at his phone, worried.

“Weird. He hasn’t called or texted me back all morning,” he muttered. Marinette’s heart jumped. Adrien? Ignoring Nino? That couldn’t be right! Maybe he—as in, _Cat Noir_ was in danger! Maybe she should—no, she was jumping to conclusions. She took a deep breath and decided to send him a quick text herself.

**Marinette:** Hey! Is everything ok?

She sat her seat, still watching her phone and trying to be oblivious to the fact that most of her classmates were whispering to each other and shooting her glances.

“Marinette,” Ms. Bustier called. Marinette quickly hid the phone behind her back, before realizing the bell hadn’t rung yet. She shouldn’t be in trouble yet, right?

“Yes, ma’am?”

“You need to go talk to Principal Damocles about yesterday’s absences,” her teacher said. Behind her, she heard snickers and her face flamed. Just what kind of rumors must be going around about her?? First Adrien, then Cat Noir. And of course, she and Adrien had been gone all afternoon… and his phone had been turned off… and… eek! Quickly, and keeping her head down, she all but fled out of the room.

As she neared the principal’s office, she heard raised voices shouting at each other inside. Just before she reached it, the door was flung open and an irate man in an expensive suit stormed out.

“This is an outrage!” he bellowed. To her surprise, not only the principal, but the mayor followed him out, also looking angry.

“We cannot allow you or your family to threaten Paris by calling upon our greatest enemy and supervillain whenever you want to!” the mayor shouted after him.

“Surely, you cannot believe the foolish words of a little girl!” the man spat.

“Your daughter has already been akumatized twice in the past week!” the mayor retorted. “Perhaps three times if certain witnesses are to be believed! And just this morning, she was making threats—”

The man interrupted him with a slew of Italian curses and swear words that made Marinette’s eyes go wide.

“Gentlemen!” the principal exclaimed, shocked. “We are in a school! Mr. Rossi, if you would please—”

“I shall be making a formal complaint!” Mr. Rossi said, turning on his heel. Mr. Damocles and Mayor Bourgeois gave each other a look and started after him, then stopped when they saw Marinette.

“Ah, Miss Dupain-Cheng,” Mr. Damocles said, worriedly glancing at the diplomat’s retreating form. “Please wait for me in my office. I’ll be just a moment.” He chased after the man.

“You wait here as well, my princess,” the mayor said, looking into the office they had just come out of. Marinette saw Chloe still inside, watching with her arms crossed.

“But, Daddy, I want to be there when you kick his no-good daughter out of town!” she complained, stomping her foot. “Don’t you need me as a witness or something??”

“Not right now, angel. I don’t want you anywhere near that dangerous girl,” the mayor said, shuddering.

“I’m not afraid of that—”

“No, Chloe,” the mayor said firmly. “I cannot let you risk your safety. Not even for the good of Paris. Just wait here.”

Still fuming, Chloe went back into the principal’s office. To Marinette’s dismay, the mayor also ushered _her_ in and closed the door behind them.

“What was that about?” Marinette asked, before she could stop herself. Chloe turned slightly in her chair to sneer at her.

“Well, well, well. The Cat’s playtoy,” she said mockingly. Marinette scowled at her, but refused to rise to her bait.

“I’m serious, Chloe. What happened?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Chloe said, examining her nails.

Marinette sighed and sat down in the only other chair available, right beside Chloe. “That _is_ why I asked,” she said, rubbing her head. She didn’t want to deal with this girl again. So stuck up, and self-centered, and—an idea popped into Marinette’s head. _Hmm_. Chloe’s personality _could_ be used against her, under the right circumstances…. If she just asked the right questions.

“So, you got Lila kicked out?” she guessed.

“Maybe,” Chloe said with a smirk. Ok, that was a yes.

“Any specific reason why?”

“She was after my Adrikins,” Chloe said, giving her a glare. “Speaking of which….”

Marinette sighed again. “Nothing happened between me and Adrien, Chloe.”

“Hmph. You’d better keep it that way.”

“He was just helping me get through a difficult time,” Marinette said. _That you caused_ , she wanted to add. “He’s… nice that way. You know that.”

“Well, of course,” Chloe said with a smirk. “I _am_ his oldest, best friend.”

“I know you are,” Marinette said, rolling her eyes. The principal still wasn’t back. She dug in her bag for her phone and checked it. Adrien still hadn’t gotten back to her. She bit her lip. “You wouldn’t happen to know what happened to him this morning, would you?” she asked carefully. “Nino hasn’t been able to get ahold of him all morning and he’s not responding to my texts either.”

“You seriously don’t know?” Chloe asked, turning to her scornfully. “His father put him back under house arrest after your little stunt yesterday. No friends, no phone, no school!” Marinette’s eyes went wide _. No! No, it couldn’t be! She’d never see Adrien again??_

“He’s locked up _alone_ in that miserable house, thanks to you! And the _only_ reason why I’m not getting _you_ kicked out of school just like that cheap little Italian knock-off is because he still sounded _happy_ when he talked about you!!” Chloe was on her feet, yelling at her, but Marinette’s mind was already whirling.

_Adrien was all alone. He could be next in line to be akumatized and she literally couldn’t get there to be with him! Oh noooo! This was not good!_ She stood and started pacing almost unconsciously. _Not good at all! He could be akumatized **already** for all she knew! If only she could talk to him—_

“Wait, you talked to him?” she asked, seizing on that small bit of information.

Chloe scoffed. “Of course I did,” she said. “What’s the use of having Daddy’s money if I don’t use it to buy my best friend a phone not even his father knows about? How _else_ do you think he’s stayed sane these past few years?? It sure wasn’t because of that stupid rock wall!” She produced a phone from her bag. “It was because of me!”

Despite herself, Marinette couldn’t help smiling. Chloe really did care about Adrien, in her own way.

“So, he’s okay?” she asked hopefully. Chloe looked at her and curled her lip. Gritting her teeth, Marinette did what she’d always sworn she’d never do in front of Chloe. She begged.

“Please, Chloe. Please, I swear, I just need to know if he’s safe or not,” she pleaded. “He’s the only one in our class who hasn’t been akumatized yet and now he’s all alone, because of me! Ugh, he’s alone and probably angry and that’s how Hawkmoth gets you, you know that! Please, just call him to check on him and make sure he’s ok, I-don’t-think-I-could-bear-it-if—”

“Stop! Stop! My God, you’re pathetic,” Chloe said, rubbing the bridge of her nose as Marinette started speaking faster and faster. “What do _I_ get out of this?”

“Are you serious??” Marinette exclaimed. “Do you _want_ him to be akumatized??”

“Of course not!” Chloe snapped.

“Then just call to check on him!”

“I _did_ earlier and he’s _fine_ ,” Chloe said, sticking her nose in the air. “A little angry with his stupid father, but fine.”

“Being a little angry is not all right, Chloe,” Marinette said, shaking. “People have been akumatized for less.”

Chloe sneered at her. “Well, what about you? You fought him off. I bet Adrien can—”

“ _I_ was able to fight because I had Adrien there, helping me,” Marinette said, trying to keep her voice from breaking. “You said it yourself. He’s _alone_ right now. Please, just call him and say something to cheer him up. Anything! You’re the only one who can help him right now! Please!!”

“Hmph,” Chloe said, still looking down her nose at her rival. “You would let me call and talk to him even though you want him for yourself?”

“What I _want_ is for Adrien to get through this,” Marinette countered. “Preferably without having to go through… _that_.” She shuddered, remembering the chill and cold heat and _nastiness_ that came with the akuma’s touch.

Chloe regarded her for a moment, probably remembering her own experience with the evil butterfly. Then she took a deep breath and looked at the pleading girl. “Hmm. So, you really care about him?”

“More than anything,” Marinette said immediately, before she could understand what she was saying. Then she flushed, stammering for a moment as she tried to figure out how to salvage that statement. Chloe chose not to let her.

“Good. Then I’ll call him,” Chloe said. Pausing for a moment, she turned and poked Marinette in the chest. “Then _you_ can tell him that this whole mess with Cat Noir is just a misunderstanding and you’re _not_ two-timing him. Because so help me, if you are, I’ll _ruin_ you.”

“Um, ok?” Marinette said. She wasn’t quite sure what she should say to that.

“And don’t think I’m giving up on him,” Chloe warned her. “He’ll come back to me in the end, just watch! But for now, you seem to make him happy, so I’ll let it slide. And better you than _Lila_.” She spat out the name in disgust.

“Thank you, Chloe,” Marinette said warmly. It was hard to believe sometimes, but Chloe really did care.

“You can thank me by making sure Adrien doesn’t become an akuma,” Chloe said sharply, dialing a number on her phone. After a few seconds of ringing, Marinette heard someone pick up the other end.

“Hi, Adrikins,” Chloe gushed. “How are you doing?”

His reply was too low for Marinette to pick up.

“Ugh, I can’t believe after everything you went through yesterday, your father’s doing this to you now,” the blonde said, examining her nails again. “But don’t worry, I already took out the trash. You won’t have to worry about _Lila_ anymore.”

His voice now sounded slightly alarmed.

“Oh please, Adrien, you’re too nice,” Chloe said, rolling her eyes. “You should’ve _heard_ her this morning, bragging about how Hawkmoth would give her powers to get anything she wanted, any time she wanted it.” She laughed. “She _didn’t_ expect me to record her and send it straight to my father. I mean, how stupid can you get?? And don’t worry, they’ve got her on 24/7 surveillance now, and she and her family are being shipped out, courtesy of yours truly. She’s not getting anywhere near you. I’ll get my daddy to tell yours as soon as she’s out of the country so we can get you out of solitary.”

Adrien’s reply sounded relieved.

“Until then,” Chloe continued, looking at Marinette, “I’ve got another present for you, to lift your spirits. Marinette here has something she wants to say to you to make you feel better.” Chloe handed her the phone. Still in a bit of shock, Marinette hesitantly took it.

“Adrien?” she said softly.

“ _Marinette??_ ” Adrien’s voice was incredulous. “ _You’re there with **Chloe**? Seriously?_”

“Yeah, I know,” she laughed softly. “And—OH MY GOD! I’M SO SORRY ABOUT GETTING YOU GROUNDED!! Don’t worry, I’ll come over as soon as it’s lunchtime and explain to your father about almost being akumatized! Maybe he’ll—”

Adrien cut her off with a laugh. “ _Please don’t_ ,” he said. She could almost hear him wince. “ _The last time a friend of mine tried to influence my father’s decisions, he ended up getting akumatized because of it._ ” Marinette grimaced. Ah. She’d always wondered how Nino had been turned so fiercely against adults.

“How are you?” she asked.

“ _Just fine_ ,” but his voice was bitter. “ _And I should be asking you that! I heard you got swarmed by reporters this morning._ ”

“Yeah, I think that’s why Chloe wanted me to talk to you,” Marinette said, looking at the girl in question. Chloe nodded and gave her a “hurry it up” gesture with her hand, looking impatient. “She wanted you to hear it from me directly so you wouldn’t get akumatized.” She took a deep breath, trying to look like she was steadying herself. “I’m not dating Cat Noir, Adrien.”

_“Well, shoot, that’s disappointing.”_

She chose not to hear that and continued. “He was just there to check up on me. Ladybug came to see me too, but the photographer didn’t see her.”

_“Ha! Pics or it didn’t happen.”_

“Adrien!”

_“Whoops! I’m not on speaker, am I?”_

“No, but…”

_“Got it, got it. Discretion ‘r us. …Poor Cat Noir must be devastated. Oh, oh, I think I feel an akuma coming on! Oh no! I hope my lady will come save me soon with a big, wet kiss…!!”_

“You’re not funny.”

_“I’m hilarious. And I wish I could see your face right now, princess.”_

It was currently flaming red, Marinette was sure. Oh, she’d save him alright. Then she was going to kill him.

“Ugh, are you two almost done?” Chloe snapped, Marinette looked at her and saw her holding her hand out expectantly for her phone.

“Just a minute,” she said to her. “Adrien?”

“ _Let me guess, you gotta go_ ,” he sounded sad again.

“Yeah,” she said regretfully. She had to say something to try to cheer him up! She could not, _would not_ fight an akumatized Adrien!! What should she say to him? Should she crack a joke? A pun? Then she remembered what he’d said the day before: _“…You get to be my Lucky Charm….”_ Her face flamed. Her. He needed _her_. Just like he’d helped her, just by being with her. But how? She couldn’t physically be near him right now; would just the thought of her be enough to stop an akuma? _“Only love can conquer hate!”_ Rose’s voice broke through her thoughts.

Somehow, her face got redder. Oh no. _No no no_. She couldn’t say those words. That much she was sure of. She’d stutter and stammer and it’d sound totally unbelievable. And she couldn’t reassure him as Ladybug; Chloe was right there. She needed something personal, but vague. Something he could picture in his—PICTURE! She gulped.

_“Well, I guess I’ll say goodbye—”_

“Adrien! I…um, I-I… I,” she took a deep breath and spoke quietly. “I changed my desktop picture back to the pink sparkles as soon as you left.”

There was a moment of silence, then a startled snicker burst out of his mouth, quickly turning into a full-bodied laugh. She felt her insides warm at the sound. He was happy again. Truly happy.

_“Marinette,”_ he said, _“you’re the best.”_

“Stay safe,” she said softly.

_“You too.”_

She handed the phone back to Chloe.

“Ugh,” the blonde said as soon as she was back on, “you two are sickeningly sweet, you know that? Wha--Why are you laughing?? … What do you mean you’ve heard that before??”

* * *

 

The paparazzi photographer’s akuma didn’t even give Marinette until lunch before he struck the school. She had been hoping for something simple, like Pixelator (take a picture, person disappears), but Inside Scoop’s powers were even worse. His camera was in his hands, (and obviously where the akuma was) but whenever he took a shot at someone, instead of disappearing, they began to shout all their secrets to the world at the top of their lungs. (The class learned waaay more than they’d ever needed to about Ms. Bustier’s love life when she shielded Marinette from his initial attack.)

Marinette, for her part, didn’t have to fake the horror on her face as she desperately dodged his attacks. Screaming out to everyone that she was Ladybug was a definite no-no. She _absolutely_ could not get hit!

But he was also relentless, not giving her any time to find an out-of-the-way place to hide and transform. It wasn’t until Cat Noir showed up, attacking and dodging like his namesake, that she was able to duck into the girls’ bathroom and catch her breath.

“Tikki,” she gasped, “can I request specific Lucky Charms? Like a shield? Or a gag??”

“Sorry, Marinette,” Tikki giggled, “luck doesn’t work that way. You can try to focus it, but well, your best chance is to just not get hit! And if you do get hit, focus your thoughts on Cat Noir.”

“How will that help me?” Marinette exclaimed.

“Cat already knows you’re Ladybug,” Tikki explained. “It’s not a secret to him. The akuma makes people tell their secrets.”

“So, then what _will_ I tell him?” Marinette asked. Tikki just gave her a pointed look. Marinette paled. “Oh noooooo…. no no no no no….”

“Like I said, don’t get hit.”

“Right, and maybe we’ll get lucky. Tikki, spots on!”

Ladybug showed up just in time to get her yo-yo around Cat Noir’s waist and hoist him to safety after Inside Scoop had him cornered in the courtyard.

“So good to see you, my lady,” he said with a wink as she released him on the school’s rooftop.

“Don’t get hit,” she warned him.

“Yeah, I think I got that after watching Juleka declare her love for Rose at the top of her lungs a minute ago.”

Ladybug blinked. “Wait, really?”

“Yup. Then Rose kissed her. It was kinda hot.”

“TMI, kitty!” she exclaimed, and looked over his shoulder just as Inside Scoop found them. Together, they dodged his next attack and ran for it, leaping buildings at top speed. “We have to get him away from the school!”

“But we don’t wanna go too far. You have to get back to class soon,” Cat Noir reminded her. That made her pause for a moment to look at him sadly.

A moment was all the akuma needed. She saw Cat Noir leap towards her with a look of horror. Then, something tingly struck her in the back, and suddenly she wasn’t in control of her own mouth.

“MY NAME IS—”

The next instant, she was slammed against a wall, with Cat Noir’s hand covering her mouth, his eyes wide. Grateful, she covered his hand with hers even as the rest of that statement was garbled into it. Cursing, Cat Noir looked around.

“I’m so sorry! I couldn’t get to you!! Do you know if it has a time limit?” he asked. She shook her head, still clutching his hand. _Dammit! This was the second time in two days she’d gotten under the influence of an akuma!! She must be distracted by—_ nope, wasn’t going to finish that thought. Oh, the thoughts that were pushing against her hands! She wanted to scream them. She needed to tell everyone! _No, Ladybug! Focus!!_ That was right! _Focus on Cat Noir_!

Cat Noir pulled her close to him and ran with her, leaping rooftops and dodging the akuma’s attacks until finally, they were out of sight of the enemy for a moment. He quickly darted into a door on a random roof. It led to a stairwell. Rooftop access, Ladybug realized. They should be safe here for a moment.

Then he tried to remove his hand from underneath hers.

“I LOVE YOU!” she burst out, before she could get her own hands back up. His eyes shot up to meet hers and she felt her face _burn_. She backed up against the wall, hands firmly on her mouth.

_Oh God, oh no… not like this!!_

He stared at her in shock for a moment before a slow grin spread over his face. He made a motion with his hands for her to go on. She shook her head fiercely and pressed her hands more firmly on her mouth. _No, no, no, no, no, no!! Oh God, no!! I can’t—I can’t—!!_

“Sooo, you do realize you’re gonna have to move your hands to activate your Lucky Charm, right?” he said, leaning against the wall. She whimpered. “I’d cover my ears, but,” he pointed at the cat ears on the top of his head and they swiveled.

She wrinkled her nose at him. She’d have to figure out how that worked someday. Some day when she was _not_ worried about everything going through her mind, like how cute he looked with those ears, in that sexy pose— _UGH!! No, don’t think about that, Ladybug!!_

“Should I leave?” he asked, once again serious. “I can try to buy you some time.” Even now, he was willing to respect her feelings! Even if he was loving every moment of this, he was being a gentleman. _Gah, why did he have to be so **perfect**??_

She shook her head again. If he went out now, he’d likely be hit by the akuma too. Then they’d have even more problems! She took a deep breath and shifted so her yo-yo was easy to access. Maybe she could activate it before she spilled too many secrets. She just wished she had control over which ones she’d say!!

Ladybug wrenched her hands off her mouth, reaching for her yo-yo.

“I’VE LOVED YOU SINCE THE DAY WE MET—GAH, _LUCKY_ —AND I KEEP GETTING SO TONGUE-TIED BECAUSE I HAVE A VERY ACTIVE IMAGINATION, — _CHARM_!!—AND EVER SINCE I’VE LEARNED WHO YOU ARE, ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT IS PUSHING YOU UP AGAINST A WALL AND— _OH, THANK GOD_!!” The Lucky Charm had produced a rolled-up sock, just big enough for her to quickly shove in her mouth, effectively stopping the words pouring out beyond her control. She hoped it was clean.

Cat Noir blinked at her and burst out laughing. “You know, if this keeps up, I’m going to have to send Hawkmoth a fruit basket or something,” he said, his eyes bright even as she glared at him.

“There you are!” Inside Scoop shouted, bursting through the door (and part of the wall). “Give me a headline!!” He pointed his camera at them.

But Ladybug was officially _done_.

She leapt at him, ignoring the tingle as she was hit again, and ignoring the camera he immediately curled around to protect. Her right hook hit him square in the jaw, and his whole body twisted with the force of the kick she used to follow it up. A yo-yo around his ankle flung him back out the door and onto the rooftop, with her stalking behind him, fuming. _A Lady’s secrets were her own!!_

Behind her, Cat Noir whistled lowly and twirled his baton. “I was mistaken,” he said. “Now, _that_ was hot.”

She ignored him. For now. She’d deal with him later. She hadn’t used him as a projectile in a while. The next akuma they faced would just have to end up with a face full of Cat. As for this one….

Apparently, her anger showed on her face, because Inside Scoop tried to run for it instead of attacking her again. He made it to the next rooftop before her yo-yo caught his ankle again and sent him sprawling to the ground. His camera flew out of his hands, skidding just out of reach. When he tried to crawl towards it, Cat Noir landed on his back, tsking at him. An extended baton later pushed the camera even further away and held it still as Ladybug landed nearby. She raised an eyebrow at her partner and gestured at the camera, clearly asking why he didn’t destroy it himself.

“Oh no,” he said, still grinning and shaking his head as he retracted the baton, “This cat knows better than to come between a true predator and her prey, my lady. This one’s all yours.” She grinned at him around the sock still in her mouth and gleefully smashed the camera with her yo-yo. The akuma flittered out of it and she caught it in her next pass.

_Bye, bye, little butterfly,_ she thought as she released its purified form.

Looking up, she saw Cat Noir get up off the former villain, still grinning at her in anticipation. She put her hands on her hips and studied him. The spell wasn’t completely broken yet, and wouldn’t be until she actually called for the Cure, but she had a feeling that, with the akuma gone, it was at least weakened enough that she could control which secret she gave away. And she _had_ to focus on Cat Noir. If she thought about Inside Scoop, she’d give her identity away, that was for sure.

_So which secret…?_ She sighed as one sprang to mind. Best to get this over with. She focused on the memory and pulled the sock out of her mouth.

“I MISSED THE UNVEILING OF OUR STATUE BECAUSE I WAS TRYING TO CALL YOU AND ASK YOU OUT ON A DATE,” she tossed the sock in the air, “ _MIRACULOUS LADYBUG_! —BUT IT WENT TO VOICEMAIL AND I ENDED UP LEAVING A REALLY EMBARASSING MESSAGE,” the magical ladybug swarm swirled around her, “SO I STOLE YOUR PHONE… to try… and… delete… it,” she finished sheepishly. Cat Noir’s jaw dropped.

“That was you??” he exclaimed. She nodded, biting her lip.

“Sorry?”

He burst out laughing. “Aww, man. Best akuma ever,” he said. She glared at him again, clearly not agreeing. He sauntered towards her. “Soooooo, what did your little message say?” he asked, leaning towards her and wiggling his eyebrows.

“Oh no, kitty. You’ve learned enough of my secrets today,” she said, turning away and folding her arms.

“Wanna hear one of mine?” he asked silkily. She looked at him and her eyes went wide when she realized just how close he had gotten. She gulped and tried to step away, but he quickly looped an arm around her waist, and caught a lock of her hair in between two of his fingers, playing with it as he leaned even closer.

“I really liked your idea in the stairwell,” he murmured in her ear.

_I am **not** blushing_, Ladybug thought fiercely. _My face is just going to have to be perpetually red from now on, that’s all_. He was so close! She should push him away with a laugh or a joke or _something_. But all she had to do was tilt her head and—

The sound of a shutter interrupted that thought. Cat Noir pulled away from her with an actual growl as he turned to see the paparazzi photographer trying to take another picture. When he saw the looks on their faces, he grinned at them sheepishly and took off for the emergency escape.

Cat Noir sighed. “Does your Miraculous Cure have to fix _everything_?” he whined.

Ladybug giggled. “It’s my job,” she said, holding up her fist. He grinned at her and gave it a bump with his own.

“Pound it!” they chorused.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, my lady, I think that reporter and I need to have a _chat_ ,” he said, chasing after the man.

“Don’t actually hurt him, Cat!” she called after him.

“No promises!”

She laughed and then heard her earrings beep. Time to get back to class. Hopefully she hadn’t missed lunch!

She transformed in an alleyway about a block away from the school, giving herself time to catch her breath and check her phone. Alya had called twice, probably wondering where she was, but she had an easy excuse this time. The akuma had wanted Marinette specifically, after all. She dialed her friend back.

“ _Marinette_!” Alya cried. “ _Where are you, girl??”_

“I ran for it after Cat Noir showed up,” she said. “Did they get the akuma yet?”

“ _Yeah, we just got the all-clear_ ,” Alya confirmed. “ _The teachers are calling an early lunch. Miss Bustier had to go home for the rest of the day to ‘recover_.’”

Marinette winced. “Did anybody else get hit?” she asked.

“ _Well, Juleka and Rose are now an item,_ ” Alya said. “ _And you should see them! It’s so cute!! Kim and Max aren’t talking to each other; I don’t know what happened there. Nathaniel took the rest of the day off too, I gotta get that scoop…._ ”

“What about you?” Marinette asked, hoping to derail Alya a bit.

_“Me? I’m fine. About to get lunch. Wanna join me?”_

“Thanks, but I think I’d better check in at home,” Marinette said, as the bakery came into view. Her parents would want to make sure she was okay. “I’ll see you after lunch, okay?”

“ _Ok, talk to you later!_ ” Alya hung up.

“Phew. Tikki, between us, I don’t think I could take Alya’s questions right now,” Marinette said, her shoulders sagging.

“Yeah, she might start asking you about _Cat Noir_ again,” Tikki teased.

Marinette cringed. “Ugh, her and the shipping! And now…!” she groaned, recalling the delighted look on Cat Noir’s face. There was no doubt he was going to show up to “talk” to her again, grounded or not. Hopefully, she’d have enough time to figure out how she wanted to handle their relationship from now on. She didn’t think he’d be satisfied with what they had before, no matter what he claimed. He’d learned far too much. “I still can’t believe I told him all of that!”

“Well, you had to tell him sooner or later,” Tikki was grinning. _Traitor_.

“Maybe, but not like that,” Marinette grumbled. Tikki ducked back into her purse as they entered the bakery. “Mama? Papa? I’m home! The school called an early lunch!”

That was strange. Her mother was usually out in front with the customers about this time. But the store was empty, and the lights turned off. Maybe they had decided to close for lunch? But it was one of their best times! Was it because of the akuma? She went around to the back stairs leading up to the living area. Maybe they had a delivery? She couldn’t remember anything on the schedule, but she _had_ been distracted these past few days.

“Mama? Papa?” she called, entering the kitchen.

Suddenly, she felt a chill on the back of her neck and a whoosh behind her. Acting on pure instinct, she dodged to the side. The strike barely missed her, but caught on her purse, hitting it hard enough to snap the strap on her shoulder. Her purse flew across the room. Inside, she heard Tikki shriek.

“Tikki!” she cried, as a huge hand clamped itself over her mouth. She tried to struggle, but a sickeningly sweet scent filled her senses, and then the world went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Marinette had to go explain to the principal why her teacher tried to tell people she went to the nurse’s, but the nurse said she never showed. I had the teacher explain it in more detail in an earlier version, but then I realized it’d be very unprofessional for her to discuss it in front of the whole class, so I took out most of that conversation. Just FYI, since the teachers never seem to care how much class she misses in the actual series, other than a little note in one episode.)
> 
> Next: Chapter 7: In Which Laughter Is the Best Medicine


	7. In Which Laughter Is the Best Medicine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I started this, I told myself: “So help me, I will write awkward, romantic fluff!”
> 
> I am a dirty, filthy liar. I’m so sorry.
> 
> And after that last chapter’s cliffhanger, I’m sure some of you will want to kill me for the POV in this one. Super sorry. We’re getting there. I promise. As a peace offering, I give you this 6000+ word monster.

** Issues **

“ _He's super cool, he's pretty fast. And he knows how, how to make me laugh.” -Miraculous Theme_

**Chapter 7: In Which Laughter Is the Best Medicine**

 

Adrien was feeling pretty good about himself. So far today, he had given Natalie and the Gorilla the slip, helped Ladybug defeat an akuma (and gotten some rather _awesome_ information while doing it!), almost stolen a kiss from his lady-love, and chased down a paparazzi photographer. It had taken awhile, and some intimidation/bribery, but now he was going to get a nice big print of an equally-awesome picture of Cat Noir and Ladybug almost kissing. He got to pick it up later today, and he was going to hang it somewhere _very_ prominent in his room.

And now, he strolled down the street, whistling happily to himself as he sauntered up to the school he wasn’t supposed to be at. He figured his father could at least allow him to have lunch with his friends. And if not, well, as Plagg would say, it was better to ask forgiveness than permission.

He blinked when he saw most of his class loitering in the courtyard.

“Hey, Nino,” he said casually, coming up behind his friend sitting on the stairs. Nino jumped about a foot.

“Dude!! You scared me! No way, they let you out of solitary?” he said, hitting Adrien on the shoulder.

“Flew the coop,” Adrien said with a shrug. “I can’t stay long or they’ll find me, but I figured I’d try to join you guys for lunch.”

“Totally awesome!” Nino crowed. “But you’re a too late, dude,” he added, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “The school called an early lunch because the latest akuma attacked here, so I’ve had time to eat and come back already. Same for most of these guys.” He gestured to the other kids hanging around.

“Aww!” Adrien hung his head in disappointment. Bad luck and akumas. The story of his life.

“But hey, that does mean we can’t hang out for awhile! Yo, Alya! Check out who decided to join us!”

“Adrien!!” Alya shrieked, rushing up and giving him a hug. To Adrien’s surprise, many of their other classmates also came up to see him, offering their condolences for his house arrest and their delight in seeing him. He couldn’t stop smiling as he greeted them all. _I have friends_ , he thought warmly. But there was one in particular who was missing, whom he had really been hoping to see….

“Where’s Marinette?” he asked, when everyone had quieted down enough.

“She had to check in with her parents for lunch, because, you know, that reporter who turned into the akuma was after her,” Alya explained. Adrien winced guiltily. Ah, yes, that _other_ picture… he still needed to apologize to her for that one. Though he doubted she’d let him come over as Cat Noir for a while…. “She’s sure gonna be sad she missed you!” Alya laughed. Adrien barely heard her over Chloe’s sudden squeal of delight as she caught sight of him.

“Adrikins! You came!!” she shrieked, happily draping herself over him. “And right out from under your daddy’s nose too, you bad boy! I’m so proud!!” Adrien chuckled as he tried to disentangle himself from her grip.

“Thanks, Chloe,” he said. “And thanks for earlier too.”

“Hmph. I don’t know what you see in her, Adrikins,” Chloe pouted, “especially when you have _moi_ right here.”

“Earlier?” apparently, Alya’s reporter-hearing was still in effect. She stared at him eagerly.

Adrien smiled. “Yeah, Marinette and Chloe teamed up to make sure I wouldn’t become an akuma,” he said.

Everyone stopped and stared at him. Adrien was pretty sure he heard a cricket.

“No. Way.” Alya said, flabbergasted.

“Oh please, it was just to stop Adrien from turning,” Chloe said, dismissing it casually as they stared at her in disbelief too. “No big deal.”

But apparently, it was a big deal, since the silence continued for a few more seconds. It was finally broken by Mylene, of all people.

“So, um, how _are_ you feeling, Adrien?” she asked nervously. Adrien gave her a big smile.

“Just fine,” he assured her. He turned to the rest of his classmates. “Really, guys, I don’t think I’m going to turn into an akuma anytime soon.” _I have an excellent Lucky Charm protecting me_ , he wanted to add, but that might be a little too close to revealing their identities.

“All it takes is a moment of weakness,” Alix warned him.

“Then I guess I won’t give Hawkmoth the _time_ of day,” he countered, winking at her. She snorted in laughter.

“Adrien, this is seriously scary stuff!” Mylene protested, looking alarmed at his attitude. _Or **cat** itude_, he thought, grinning to himself, _since he was channeling a certain superhero right now_.

He shook his head at her, still smiling. “That’s just it, Mylene,” he explained. “It’s how he gets to you, right? Feeling sad, or angry, or depressed? Didn’t they tell you how they beat the Horrificator? You like to sing; I make jokes. So, I gotta keep making jokes about it. After all, if I bust out laughing when he’s trying to turn me, he’s gonna have a bad time, right?”

“Dude, you’re crazy,” Nino chuckled beside him.

“But it might just be crazy enough to work,” Max said, thinking hard.

Adrien beamed at them. “So, what do you guys think? What’s my supervillain name gonna be?” he asked eagerly.

“Dorkasaurus,” Nino said immediately, punching his shoulder.

Adrien pumped his fist. “Yes! Dinosaur powers!!”

The class burst out laughing.

“Are we seriously doing this?” Juleka asked, looking excited.

“Absolutely,” he said.

It was like a switch had been flipped. All around, the class kept calling out different names and ideas, laughing with him as they made fun of the worst ones, or expanding on ones they liked. Some of the kids from other classes got involved. They even started making jokes about their own past forms (no one remembered exactly what happened when they turned, but thanks to the Ladyblog, there was plenty of footage) and what they should’ve done differently, or what they could do now if they still had their powers.

“Mine was definitely the best,” Kim was saying. “I had wings!”

“I beg to differ. My transformation turned into a giant robot,” Max countered.

“Oh please, I have you all beat,” Chloe said disdainfully. “I turned into Ladybug!”

Adrien looked around with delight. _I hope you’re watching, Hawkmoth_ , he thought. _Just so you know you’ll never have them under your thumb again_.

“You know, technically, Adrien, the powers come from each person’s specific personality,” Max pointed out. “So, your akuma could have something to do with jokes.”

Adrien’s eyes lit up. “Oh, that could be _fun_ ,” he said, posing. “The Punster!”

“Ladybug’s worst enemy!” Alya laughed. Adrien winced before he could stop himself. _Yeah, he really would be…._

“Actually, it’ll probably have something to do with his modelling,” Sabrina said softly, thinking. Adrien blinked. _That… might be more accurate than he wanted to admit…._

“What??” Chloe snapped at her friend. “Why would you even say something like that?? Adrien’s a perfect model!”

“No, she’s got a point, Chloe,” he said, intervening before she could yell at her friend any more. “Modelling can be kind of stressful sometimes,” he admitted with a shrug. _This just got too serious_ , he thought to himself. _Gotta make it a joke…._ “So, what do you guys think?” he asked, striking another pose. “I’m thinking, Picture Perfect!”

“Or Model Citizen!”

“Poster Boy!” (Adrien cracked up at that one.)

“Dreamboat!”

“Inflated Ego!” Alya called.

“Ouch!” Adrien gasped, laughing so hard he fell out of his pose. “Lady Wifi for the kill! I’d better get a cape to go with that one!”

“Nope! You get a floatie!” she grinned cheekily.  “‘Cause it’s inflated, get it?! You gotta stick with your theme!!” He howled in laughter at the thought of himself as a beach-themed akuma, with Ladybug chasing him down with a Lucky Charm turned into a pin, ready to pop his precious floatie.

“Well, then that one’s out!” he retorted when he could breathe again. “I’m seriously feeling the cape thing. We need more cape-friendly villains! Wait a minute. Didn’t anybody get a cape??”

“Oh my gosh, they didn’t!” Alya’s eyes went wide as she realized.

“Hawkmoth is _slacking_.” Adrien said solemnly, shaking his head. “Capes are gonna be the next big thing. I can feel it.”

“Dude, didn’t you see The Incredibles??” Nino exclaimed. “’No capes!’”

“Awww….”

“You could be the Next Big Thing, though,” Nino said, pondering. “And like, grow to humongous sizes!”

“YES!” Adrien’s eyes lit up. “And smash buildings and—!”

“ALYA!” As one, the class turned towards the new voice, tinged with panic. Adrien blinked. Marinette’s father was coming through the school doors, his face white. Adrien felt his own stomach lurch. This could _not_ be good. Tom ran up to them. “Please tell me Marinette is with here somewhere!”

Alya went white as well. “S-she said she was going home for lunch!”

The panic on Tom Dupain’s face doubled, and he looked frantically around, as though hoping his daughter would materialize somewhere. “We came over here when we heard the reporter was after her, but we couldn’t find her here and when we went back….” He gulped, stopping himself from finishing that sentence. Adrien felt the rest of the blood in face drain. Whatever had happened, it hadn’t been good.

“I’ll try to call her,” he said quickly. Before he could, Tom shook his head.

“We found her purse, and her phone was still inside it,” he said. “Please, I need all of you to help me search the school. Her mother is already phoning the police.” The class quickly agreed, and they split up to search.

Adrien headed for the door, under the pretense of having to go home and check in first. He was certain Natalie would let him out to search if he asked, but he had no actual intentions of going home. Marinette wouldn’t be in the school, that was for sure. They needed to search more places, faster. This called for a superhero.

“Plagg, claws out!”

He started at the bakery. Or rather, Marinette’s balcony above the bakery. Her mother was outside talking to the police, already crying. And suddenly, _he couldn’t do it_. He couldn’t face that sweet woman, knowing it was probably his fault Marinette was targeted in the first place.

_I shouldn’t have gone to see her!_ He cursed himself as his super-hearing picked up what they were talking about. A broken window, some overturned furniture, jewelry and money missing—he bit his lip, daring to hope for a moment that it was just a robbery gone wrong, _not his fault, not his fault_ —but it was too coincidental. The picture. The akuma. Hawkmoth now knew she was a contact of Cat Noir’s, at the very least. His tail positively twitching, he decided he had to move _now_ , or he would go insane.

_If it was Hawkmoth_ , he tried to reason with himself as he raced along the rooftops _, where would he put her?_ As bait for him (the most likely scenario), she would be somewhere prominent. Hawkmoth knew how to put on a show. He gritted his teeth and started searching.

The Eiffel Tower. Nope.

Trocadero? Nobody he knew.

The Louvre. Not there.

Notre Dame? ( _please, please, please don’t let her need a priest…_ ) Nada.

Landmark after landmark, hour after hour passed by. No sign of Marinette. He tried calling Ladybug, daring to hope, but their communicators showed she wasn’t transformed. _Damn_. He didn’t dare go near the bakery. He felt like such a failure. The police hadn’t come up with anything either, according to the news he tracked with his baton.

He sighed as he slowed to a stop on top of the building they had fought the akuma at just hours before, reduced to pulling his own hair.

_Useless. Utterly useless, stupid alley cat!!_

Surely Hawkmoth should’ve tried to contact him by now? Maybe it _was_ just an ordinary robber. Though, if it was, he doubted she was doing very well if they hadn’t let her go by now….

“Cat Noir!”

He looked up to see the paparazzi reporter from earlier, climbing the last of the stairs, waving a sheet of paper at him. He had been an akuma earlier that day… maybe Hawkmoth sent him?? Were they finally going to negotiate for her release??

“I have the picture you wanted!”

Cat Noir blinked. _Oh. Right_. Was it already that late? He took it from the man with a shaking hand, his throat closing as he saw it. As he saw _her_. Ladybug was blushing bashfully (but not pulling away!) as his grinning self was playing with a piece of her hair and leaning towards her, only a breath away.

What if--? Oh God, what if that was the last time he ever saw her?

_I should’ve kissed her. Dammit, I should’ve—_

His fist clenched automatically, and he forced himself to relax and _breathe_ as he tried to smooth the wrinkles in the photograph.

“So? We’re good, right?” the photographer asked nervously. Cat Noir tore his eyes away from the picture to look up at the man and clear his throat.

“Yeah, yeah, all good,” he said, trying to sound casual. The man’s anxiety cleared immediately.

“Great! And, just so you know, if you and Ladybug ever want to—announce your engagement or anything, I’ll do the photos for you, cheap!” he said, handing Cat Noir a business card.

_If I get her back in one piece, I might just take you up on that,_ he thought. But as soon as the man was gone, he couldn’t help but laugh. Yeah, right. Ladybug would probably kill him if he suggested they use the same man who stalked her balcony late at night and turned her into a trending news story.

He glanced at the photo again, heart clenching. He’d promised himself, from Day One: he would always have her back. No matter what. The crazy, vibrant woman who’d literally dropped into his life and wrapped him around her little finger with a yo-yo string. She was the leader. The healer. _The_ _Miraculous Ladybug_. And he… he was her sword and shield. Her protector. The Ultimate Weapon. The one chosen to pick her up and stand by her side when she was saving the world.

_I let her down._

He took a deep breath. It would be sunset in less than an hour. No more stalling. He’d go home, drop off the picture, let Plagg recharge quickly, then go to the bakery and face her parents. He owed them that much.

He took off for home. It was probably too much to ask for that no one had noticed his absence all afternoon. He hoped he could play it off as going to find Marinette (still true!). Maybe his father wouldn’t be _too_ angry….

He dropped into his room and released his transformation, laying the picture on his bed.

“Go eat something, Plagg,” he said tiredly. “We’ll be going out again in just a few minutes.”

“Adrien??” a voice said, from near his doorway. Adrien froze, looking up in horror. Out of the shadows came Lila, her eyes wide. Adrien gaped. WHAT THE ACTUAL— _she was akumatized_! _AGAIN_??? He thought Ladybug had taken care of her!! No, scratch that, he thought _Chloe_ had taken care of her!!! She shouldn’t even be in Paris, much less stalking his room as Volpina. AGAIN!! But here she was, staring at him after watching— _oh_ , _shit_! “You’re Cat Noir??”

“Well, well, well,” another voice drawled from the shadows of his room. Adrien jumped. “Looks like little rich boy’s got a big secret.” A shadow detached itself from the rest, jumping down from the upper floor of Adrien’s room to land a few feet away from him. Adrien stared. He looked like a stereotypical robber: ski mask (though it was pulled down for now so the man could talk), gloves, bags tied to his waist, dressed all in black… there was even a large gold money symbol on his chest.

“Don’ suppose you ‘member me,” the big man chuckled through a thick accent, “you and yer little girlfriend stopped me and me mates from gettin’ clean away from a big job downtown few days ago.”

Adrien took a step back, clenching his teeth. The bank robbery. The locked vault. It seemed like forever ago with everything else that had happened. _One robber had gotten away._ And had apparently been akumatized.

“I remember you,” he said carefully. Plagg was still hovering near his shoulder, in case Adrien needed a quick transformation. Secrecy wasn’t an issue; they’d both seen him transform already.

“Name’s Money Bags now,” the man said casually. He leered at Adrien. “Yer man Hawkmoth offered a good deal.”

“I’ll bet he did,” Adrien replied, trying to stay calm. Two akumatized villains, and no Ladybug. This was very not good. Not good at all. And they knew his secret identity! Super not good!! His mind swirled with a litany of swear words. Words his father would kill him if he were to—his father!

“My father can pay you,” he said quickly. “If money’s all you want, I’m sure he’ll be willing to negotiate a ransom.”

Money Bags laughed. “Aww, kiddo, I like you! But,” he grinned darkly. “I been havin’ me a bit o’ fun these past few days, and there’s only one way me man’s lettin’ me keep these here powers. So, why don’ you just hand me that there fancy ring o’ yours?” Plagg hissed and Adrien took another step back. He’d never actually timed how long his transformation took, but he had no doubt this guy would be on him in an instant. And if not him, then… He glanced at the other supervillain in the room. Lila’s fox ears were flat against her head with displeasure at the situation she found herself in, and she was chewing her bottom lip.

“So, that’s it then?” he asked her, hoping to appeal to the part of her that still liked him. “You’re just going to stand there and let this guy take me to my archenemy? Maybe help him rough me up a bit?”

“That’s not—you’re not supposed to be Cat Noir!” Lila cried.

“Aww, save the tears, girlie,” Money Bags said. “Makes our job easier this way.” He took another step towards Adrien.

“Don’t you dare hurt him!” Lila shrieked, brandishing her flute.

Money Bags turned on her. “Careful, Foxy. I don’ take my orders from you,” he growled. His hand burst into flame. Adrien shied away from it. _Oh, that was not good…._

“Adrien, just give him the ring!” Lila said desperately. “Here!” She pulled a glass ball out and held it out to him. Now both he and Plagg recoiled in horror. Inside the ball was a little, black butterfly, fluttering in its tiny cage. “Give him the ring and Hawkmoth can give you _new_ powers! Then we can be superheroes together!! Wouldn’t that be wonderful??”

“Now, hold on, missy,” Money Bags interrupted. “I’m kinda likin’ that ransom idea after I get me that ring.”

“You’ll stick to the plan!” Lila snarled at him. He turned on her.

“I don’t like yer tone, girlie.”

“I’ll give you a _tone_ ,” Lila growled. She brought her flute up to her lips and played a simple tune. A glowing ball appeared in front of her and she hit it with her flute, right into Money Bags’s chest. He flew backwards with a yell to crash into Adrien’s wall. She followed him just enough to see that he was unconscious, then turned back to Adrien, holding out the akuma in the glass ball.

“That won’t hold him for long,” she said desperately, “quick, Adrien, take it! Trade your ring to Hawkmoth for your friend, and the akuma will give you new powers! I already made the deal for you! All you have to do is—Adrien?” She paused, finally seeing the look of fury on his face.

_Trade your ring to Hawkmoth for your friend._

He had her.

Hawkmoth had Marinette.

He had to trade the ring for her. That was the deal. Adrien had expected it, but… wait.

“Lila,” he said slowly, “if you didn’t know I was Cat Noir, why were you waiting for him here? And how did you know you had to get my ring?”

“That was Money Bags’s job!” she cried, “Hawkmoth just said it was valuable! He said Cat Noir would be _with_ you, not—you!” She gestured to him. “We were supposed to defeat Cat Noir, Money Bags would take the ring, and I would akumatize you! Hawkmoth knows Ladybug is in love with you, so we were going to use that! Three against one! It would’ve worked!! But not… not if you’re—” She fell to the floor, shaking and sobbing.

“Hawkmoth’s been lying to you this whole time, Lila,” Adrien said, his mind strangely calm.

Hawkmoth knew who he was. He knew Adrien was Cat Noir. That was the only explanation. He had sent out two akumatized victims to fight him, hoping he’d be weak against strong villain and a girl who professed to love him. Or maybe he was hoping to make him feel guilty, when Lila was forced to choose between him and the powers she clung to so stubbornly. Then Money Bags could finish him off easily.

Whatever the reason, there was some good news in this: Hawkmoth must not know Marinette was Ladybug. He had been hoping to use Adrien to get to the superheroine, when he already had her in his grasp. Adrien clung to that desperately. Marinette was safe. Or would be, as soon as he….

Suddenly, Plagg darted inside his jacket.

Moments later, the Gorilla came barreling into Adrien’s door, followed closely by Natalie, who was armed with some sort of gun. Adrien nearly laughed. They must’ve heard Money Bags going through his wall from the other side of the house. Still, better late than never.

Natalie took one look at the man-sized hole in Adrien’s wall and the orange-clad girl on the floor and instantly signaled the Gorilla to go get Money Bags, while she kept her weapon trained on Lila.

“Adrien, are you ok?” she asked calmly.

“Yeah,” he said, his voice shaking a bit as the adrenaline started to wear off. Lila was still between him and the door, so he didn’t dare try to escape, but—

A roar over to the side signaled that Money Bags was now awake and fighting with the Gorilla. Adrien looked over just in time to see the robber crash through his door and disappear into the rest of the house, with his bodyguard hot on his heels. Lila attempted to bolt, and Natalie quickly shot her with what Adrien realized was a high-powered taser. Lila shrieked as the current raced through her body, swinging her flute wildly to free herself from the pain. She caught Natalie’s gun just enough to get it out of the other woman’s grasp. As soon as she was freed, Lila darted after her cohort, apparently _done_ with this whole situation and the boy she could never have. Natalie turned to chase her, then looked at Adrien, caught between wanting to protect him and going after the girl.

“Go!” Adrien called to her. “The Gorilla can’t take them both on at the same time. I’ll be fine!”

Natalie nodded and grabbed her weapon off the floor. “Stay here!” she ordered, running out the door.

Adrien remained where he was for a moment, half-expecting one of them to come back for him. Then he crossed the room to the little glass ball that Lila had been carrying, now laying forgotten on the floor. The akuma inside was still fluttering and there seemed to be a little piece of paper in there with it. No doubt it was a message from Hawkmoth. But… Adrien looked at the little, black butterfly speculatively. Hawkmoth always communicated directly with his victims, right?

“Plagg,” he called slowly. The kwami slowly floated up to his face, looking apprehensive.

“Tell me you’re not thinking of doing what I think you’re thinking of doing,” he said flatly.

“Can he read my mind?” Adrien asked.

Plagg shook his head. “Just your emotions. But those will tell him plenty, kid. There’s gotta be a better way. He left this here on purpose.”

“I need to be able to find her,” Adrien argued, picking up the little ball. It felt strangely cold. “And I need to find out how he knew who I was. Which means I need to talk to him. This may give us the answers.” The kwami looked at him uncertainly for a few moments, before sighing and nodding.

“You’ll need an object to akumatize,” he pointed out. “And it has to be something you’re attached to emotionally.”

“It won’t go into the ring?”

Plagg scoffed and crossed his arms. “As if I’d let it.”

Adrien smiled weakly and went to his bed, picking up the picture. It’d be easy to rip apart once he was done with the akuma… but without Ladybug to restore everything, there was no guarantee he’d ever get it back. “It’s like I’m not allowed to have anything I want,” he muttered, turning back to the akuma. He sighed. “Let’s do this.”

“You’re sure?” Plagg asked, raising an eyebrow. Adrien nodded. He had to get her back. Anything to get her back. Even if it meant making a deal with the devil. Plagg looked at the butterfly distrustfully. “If he takes you over, she’s done for, you know.”

“I know. I just gotta be myself, right?” Adrien said, smiling cheerfully. (Or trying to smile cheerfully. Inside he was shaking. _Please don’t let this go wrong… Please don’t let this go wrong…. There were so many ways this could go wrong_!) “Tell jokes, like you said. Remember….”

Remember _her_. Her silly crush. Her eccentric ways. The way she smiled at him just before they dove into a fight…. No, no he had to focus on Marinette. Not Ladybug. He couldn’t give Hawkmoth any clues. Marinette and her warm smile. The smell of cookies. Playing games with her as she soundly beat him every time. The blush on her face when she tried to cover up her computer screen…. He smiled and took a deep breath.

“I’m ready.”

_He wasn’t ready. Not at all._ Still, he raised the glass ball and smashed it on the ground. The little black butterfly fluttered up to him and he held out the picture, offering it. It dove right in.

Humor faded as heat rushed through him. It felt like his head was in a clamp. Red-hot anger. Acidic jealousy. He couldn’t breathe. Cold-burning possessiveness. Pure, unadulterated rage burned through his veins.

_She is **mine** , you bastard,_ he thought fiercely, gasping for breath. _Give her back!_

Sorrow. _Helplessness_. Depression at not being strong enough to— _NO_! he fought that thought. He _WOULD_ save her _. But he was drowning._

“ **Good evening, Joker** ,” Hawkmoth’s voice purred. “ **I’ve been waiting for you.** ”

Adrien jolted at the sound of his voice. _He knew that voice!_ How could he not?? This was different than hearing the supervillain shouting for all of Paris to heed him. Hawkmoth sounded like he was in the same room, talking in his ear…. Telling him a soft, short bedtime story, because that was all he had time for….

Oh _God_. Oh my GOD. How had he not seen—? Fury and disbelief burned inside him. NO! How _could_ he? How DARE HE??

“ **Are you angry with me?** ” Hawkmoth’s voice mocked him. Adrien shook, trying to stay above his own rage. It threatened to consume him, burning him from the inside out.

_That’s how he gets to you,_ Plagg had said, the kwami’s voice coming back to him through the red-hot anger coursing through him. He forced himself to breathe again. _Just be yourself. Tell jokes instead of getting angry…._

Somehow, Adrien forced himself to laugh. (If it was a bit hysterical, he didn’t think he could be blamed.) Instantly, some of the fire cooled. He laughed more, gaining more and more control with each passing moment. Finally, the pain was manageable. His humor at Hawkmoth was dark and dangerous, so the akuma couldn’t drown it completely. Couldn’t swallow it. He could use it. _He could fight this_.

“I’m a bit disappointed, to be honest,” he said to Hawkmoth with a smirk. “I came up with some really good names earlier and _that’s_ the one you went with? Really?”

To his delight, he could feel Hawkmoth’s frustration and annoyance through their connection. Still, the man had never been one to back down in an argument….

“ **You would prefer something else? Perhaps Cat Blanc?** ” Hawkmoth asked mockingly.

Adrien rolled his eyes and shook his head. There was _nothing_ that man could offer him that would make him want to turn into an evil Cat Noir. Not if he had to fight Ladybug. _Not if he couldn’t save Marinette_.

“Oh, please. Haven’t you heard, Hawkmoth?” he said, matching the man’s mocking tone. “Orange is the new black. Not white.”

Hawkmoth hummed in annoyance at his unwillingness to participate. But Adrien had no intention of backing down from this one. Or for being pushed around like some doll. Not anymore. Never again.

“Why don’t we just cut to the chase?” he said, temporarily allowing the rage and anger in the akuma to fill him. _Marinette. Her big, beautiful eyes. The way she blushed when he teased her_. “You have something of mine,” he growled. “I want her back.”

**“My, my what a possessive little kitty cat you are. Fortunately, you have something I want as well.”**

“A trade, then?” Adrien suggested, hating himself. He didn’t want to give up Plagg. Or the freedom he had as Cat Noir. But if it meant Marinette went free….

“ **You have much to learn, Adrien. I’ll be waiting** ,” Hawkmoth said. Adrien felt the rage start to drain out of himself. But he couldn’t help but make one final parting shot.

“Too bad I didn’t have anybody to teach me, huh, father?”

He felt Hawkmoth’s shock and used it to break their connection, reaching deep inside himself and snapping it like a twig. It was remarkably easy, actually. What had he been worried about, again?

He blinked and saw Plagg floating in front of his face, eyes wide with worry. Looking down, he saw the akuma flit out of his picture. Just to be sure, he quickly tore page in half, and felt a surge of anger at having to do so. Idly, he swatted the little butterfly. To his surprise, as soon as it came into contact with his ring, the akuma shattered into a thousand pieces of glittering black and purple. Plagg gaped at him.

Adrien snorted. “It would’ve been nice to know I could do that a while ago,” he muttered.

“You shouldn’t be able to,” Plagg whispered, gulping. Adrien stared at him for a moment and then looked at his ring.

“That’s right, I couldn’t touch it before. That… wasn’t you?” he finally asked. Plagg shook his head. “Huh. So, what does it mean?”

“Your powers are growing,” Plagg said, looking at him fearfully.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Adrien asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Not if it’s because of an akuma,” Plagg said. “Kid, think. Your powers are destruction and bad luck! Do you really want to be activating them anytime you’re feeling emotional??” Adrien felt himself pale at the thought. Yeah, that could definitely be a bad thing.

“What do I do?” he asked.

“Nothing right now,” Plagg said. “You’ll need formal training soon, though.”

Adrien scoffed. “And just where am I gonna get that?”

Plagg gulped sheepishly. “I know a guy.”

Adrien stared at his kwami. “You know a guy,” he repeated, raising an eyebrow. “Who can train me to use my Cat Noir powers.”

“Uh, yes?”

“And you didn’t think to tell me about it until now??”

“Kid, there’s a lot I haven’t told you.”

“Like about my father?” Adrien said. He clenched his fist. “Plagg, did you know…?”

“I suspected,” the kwami admitted. Adrien stared at him, betrayed. Plagg flew to him, holding his arms out placatingly. “Cat Noirs always have bad luck, I told you that! When I realized you could walk under trees and bookshelves and stuff without anything falling on you, I knew we were gonna get a doozy! That’s why I wanted you to know who Ladybug was, to make sure _that_ wasn’t the doozy! I didn’t know it was _him_ , though, or I would’ve told you, I promise!” His wielder took a deep breath. It was a lot to take in.

“And now, now I have to—,” Adrien slumped down and covered his face with his hand. Now he had to face the one man he wanted most to run away from. Something fluttered in the breeze his movement made and he looked down to see the bit of paper Hawkmoth had left him fluttering among the glass shards on the floor. Hand slightly shaking, he picked it up.

It was a picture _. Another goddamn picture_. He felt his stomach clench as he saw Marinette, tied up and unconscious in a room with a large window. At least, he hoped she was only unconscious. _If she was hurt…._ There was a small bit of script at the bottom, and Adrien narrowed his eyes. The picture crinkled in his fist.

“Ready, Plagg?” he asked, determination filling him once more. “I hope you got your cheese. Something tells me this is gonna be a long night. Claws out!”

“Wait! Do you even know where to goooooo--?” Plagg cried as he was sucked into the ring.

Cat Noir smirked mirthlessly as he crumpled the picture in his claws and held it tightly. Of course he knew. His father wanted him there, and his father was a planner. Cat Noir had searched there earlier, but Hawkmoth must not have been in place at the time. At least now he knew where the villain’s lair was. There were only two words written at the bottom of the photograph.

_Sacré-Cœur._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of the authors who actually used any of those villain names for Adrien. In fact, I’m pretty sure I haven’t even found half of the ones already out there. I tried to include the ones that made sense, as a nod to my beloved fellow authors. (And if anybody has actually written a “Dorkasaurus” one, please tell me where it is. I NEED to read it. Sooo badly.) I am also not affiliated with The Incredibles movie, Disney or Pixar. Please support the original release. Like seriously. If you haven’t seen that movie, you should.
> 
> Please remember that this was written before the season 2 release, so I had no information on where Hawkmoth's lair was, except for what I could guess. I had not been to Paris myself, but I know several people who have. They all agreed, from the view we get when the akumas start their journey, Hawkmoth must be at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, or Sacré-Cœur, as it is commonly called. So I went with that.
> 
> Next: Chapter 8: In Which Marinette Is a Little Tied Up at the Moment.


	8. In Which Marinette Is a Little Tied Up at the Moment

** Issues **

“ _And when the sun goes down, you better hang around!” -Miraculous Theme_

**Chapter 8: In Which Marinette Is a Little Tied Up at the Moment**

 

Marinette felt herself groggily coming awake as someone touched her ears, gently taking out her earrings. She couldn’t move. And her head hurt. A lot.

“Well, Nooroo?” a harsh voice asked. Marinette froze. She knew that voice! It had haunted her nightmares these past few nights! _Hawkmoth_!!

“I’m sorry, master, but if these earrings were Miraculous, her kwami would’ve shown up by now,” a small, timid voice replied.

“Disappointing,” Hawkmoth said, moving away. She heard something small clatter to the ground and felt herself come awake fully. _Nooroo! The kwami Tikki had told her about! He was lying to Hawkmoth for her? She didn’t know kwamis could do that. But, wait! If he was talking to Hawkmoth, that meant_ —she tried to move, and felt her heart plummet. She was bound to a chair by a length of rope, her hands bound separately behind her. She was also gagged, so even if Tikki had been here, she couldn’t call on her transformation. Hawkmoth, it seemed, had suspected her identity, and taken no chances.

But if Nooroo was out of his Miraculous, that meant Hawkmoth wasn’t transformed….

Marinette opened her eyes, and immediately regretted it. Right in front of her was a huge window, like one in an atrium, and the bright light pouring out of it made her hiss through her nose and turn away.

Suddenly, she felt a tiny hand on her cheek, right beside her ear, as one of her earrings was pushed back in. “Shh,” the tiny voice hissed her ear. It sounded a lot like Tikki and Plagg, but it clearly wasn’t. In fact, Marinette was quite sure she’d never be able to mistake any of the kwamis’ voices. Nooroo zipped over to her other ear and reattached the other earring.

“Don’t say anything, he’s more cunning than he lets on,” he whispered carefully. “I’m sure Cat Noir is on his way.” Then he floated in front of her face and gave her a nod, before turning away.

“Master,” he called timidly, “she’s waking up.”

“Already?” Hawkmoth sounded surprised. Marinette tried to turn her head to see him, but she was bound too tightly. Well, that and the room appeared to only be lit by the huge window in front of her and…

She blinked, realizing what she was seeing. The world wasn’t spinning and she _wasn’t_ going crazy…. The room was full of bright, white, luminescent butterflies. _The akumas!_ She thought wildly. _Oh my God. There’s so many…._

“You are stronger than I gave you credit for,” Hawkmoth said, coming up behind her. Marinette stiffened, but he made no move to come in her line of sight. He chuckled. “And a designer as well. Under different circumstances, I might even approve of your relationship with my son. He needs someone strong to lead him. But alas, my dear, that person cannot be you.”

Marinette’s mind froze. _His son? Wait, did that mean…._

“Having fun?” a new voice interjected. Her heart leapt for joy. She’d know that voice anywhere! Sure enough, Cat Noir dropped down in front of her from where he had come in through the window. Marinette would’ve called out to him, but she was still gagged. Then she saw his face.

He was _furious_.

But he wasn’t attacking. What…? Usually, she had to hold him back from diving into the fight. She was right here in front of him, tied up by their greatest enemy, who wasn’t even transformed! _Why hadn’t he moved??_

Instead, he looked around the room. “You weren’t here earlier,” he said casually.

“I felt it appropriate to give Volpina her chance to turn you,” Hawkmoth replied, just as easily. “She’s been… rather insistent.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Cat Noir snorted. “And the big guy was just what? A bonus prize?”

“Insurance,” Hawkmoth corrected. “You be surprised what _bad_ decisions young people can make when they’re in love.”

“So, you intended to double-cross her all along.”

Hawkmoth gave a short laugh. “I hardly think she’s worthy of you,” he said. “Even Miss Dupain-Cheng here would be a better choice.” Marinette felt his hand fall on her shoulder briefly. She tried not to shied away from the contact. Or shudder with fear when she realized _Hawkmoth knew her by name_.

Cat Noir glared at the man. He tossed Hawkmoth what looked like a balled-up piece of paper. “I got your note,” he said, growling.

“Well, I had to get your attention somehow,” Hawkmoth chuckled. “You’ve been ignoring me lately.”

Marinette’s head spun at their easy banter. _Oh God. Oh God, oh God, oh God. Cat Noir knew about Hawkmoth? Why hadn’t he said anything? Did he know…? Did he know who Hawkmoth really was? Oh, heaven help her, had he known the whole time? What could this mean?? WHAT WAS GOING ON???_

Finally, Cat Noir looked down at her and frowned, before turning his attention back to Hawkmoth.

“How long have you known?” he asked, stepping towards them. Marinette jumped as she felt something hard tap her shoulder. Cat Noir stopped short, his eyes narrowing as the message was received. He wasn’t to come any closer to Marinette.

“Months,” Hawkmoth said, relishing his new control over Cat Noir. “Ever since the incident with Simon Says.”

She could see her partner’s hands flexing and unflexing, like he wanted to attack the man behind her. He probably did.

“Why haven’t you done anything about it ‘til now?” he asked. Hawkmoth chuckled.

“I was hoping you would lead me to Ladybug,” he said. Cat Noir went still, and Marinette could see he was trying very hard not to glance at her and give the secret away. In her head, she could almost hear Tikki’s eye roll. _See? This is why we don’t trust people with our identities, Marinette!_

Oh God. _Tikki_. She hoped the kwami was okay.

“At first, I thought she might be one of your friends at that school, perhaps even this girl here, but it seems she continues to evade me,” Hawkmoth mused. “You wouldn’t happen to know her real identity, would you, _Cat Noir_?”

“Nope,” Cat Noir said with a shrug.

Hawkmoth chuckled. “You always were a bad liar, Adrien,” he said, sounding almost fond. “But, come now—”

“ _I don’t know who she is_ ,” Cat Noir snarled, his voice shaking in anger. “You think it didn’t frustrate me too? But she insisted, every time we had the chance! It’s why I started seeing Marinette here.” He said, gesturing to their captive. “Even told her my secret identity, ‘cause I thought they had similar hairstyles, so maybe….” He shrugged and folded his arms. “Turns out she was just another fangirl.”

Ouch. If Marinette hadn’t known the truth, that would’ve stung. As it was, she had to give him extra points for his incredible acting ability.

Hawkmoth let out a small laugh. “Yes, my kwami confirmed the same,” he said. “Well, if she means nothing to you—”

“I didn’t say that!” Cat Noir said quickly, holding his hands out. Marinette felt a chill at the back of her neck and froze. _What had Hawkmoth been about to do?_ Cat Noir took a deep breath. “Plagg, claws in.”

Marinette’s eyes flew to her partner as she refused to believe what she was seeing. A green flash and Adrien stood in front of her. _NO! NO NO NO!! HE NEEDED TO FIGHT! TO CREATE A DISTRACTION SO SHE COULD GET AWAY!! SHE COULD GET AWAY, GET TO TIKKI, TRANSFORM AND THEY COULD TAKE HIM ON TOGETHER!! WHY WAS HE LETTING GO OF HIS TRANSFORMATION???_

Plagg zipped into his master’s face. “Kid, no, don’t--”

“I have to, Plagg,” Adrien said sorrowfully. He took off his ring. Plagg disappeared and the ring turned black, the green pawprint glowing for a moment defiantly. Adrien sighed and held it out to Hawkmoth. “All right, father, you win. One Miraculous for one civilian’s life.”

Marinette couldn’t breathe. Her heart was beating hard in her chest. _How could he?_ But even as she thought it, she wanted to cry. _How could he **not**? It was so like him…_

Hawkmoth stepped out of the shadows to stand beside Marinette. Finally, she could see him. As she suspected, Gabriel Agreste stood there, regarding his son with a frown. Her hero. Her favorite designer. The one who had inspired her to become a designer herself. Adrien’s _father_. _Oh God, his own father…._ He had kidnapped her and was holding an entire city hostage to their own fears.

“You misunderstand me, Adrien,” he said. “I don’t want your Miraculous. I want you to use it, to bring me Ladybug’s.”

“I already told you, I can’t do that,” Adrien said, angry.

“Not as Adrien,” Gabriel agreed. “But Ladybug trusts Cat Noir. You should have no problem getting close enough to steal her Miraculous. Bring me the earrings, relinquish your ring, and I will set your friend here free.”

“You just don’t get it, do you??” Adrien snarled, clutching his ring.

“No, Adrien, _you_ don’t understand,” Gabriel countered. “Ladybug is not your friend. You are nothing but a sidekick to her, a running joke. All this time, and she’s never even trusted you with her identity? _Pathetic_ ,” he spat, “is what _that_ is.”

Adrien went pale and ducked his head, still refusing to look at Marinette.

“You think you can choose her over me?” Gabriel continued. “We are _family_. Bound by _blood_. And everything I’ve done here has been for _you_! Yet, here you stand against me, after all they’ve done to destroy us!”

Adrien’s head shot up as he blinked in shock at his father. “Wha-what are you talking about?” he stammered.

“Hmph, so they didn’t tell you,” Gabriel said scornfully. He gestured to Adrien. “Go ahead. Put your ring back on and ask him. Ask your kwami what happened to your mother!”

His son’s eyes went wide. Marinette felt her own stomach plummet. She couldn’t imagine what _he_ was feeling right now. White and shaking, Adrien slipped the ring back on. Instantly, Plagg flew back up to his face.

“Kid, don’t listen to him—” Plagg pleaded.

“Plagg…?” Adrien asked weakly.

“Tell him!” Gabriel demanded. “Tell us both what happened that night!”

“I don’t answer to you!” Plagg turned and hissed.

Marinette didn’t need to hear his growl to see Gabriel grinding his teeth. “Adrien! Command him! He will obey you, whether he wants to or not!”

“But father, that’s not—”

“He is not your friend either!” Gabriel raged. “Do you think it mere coincidence that he happened to choose _you_?? My own son?? They have been trying to tear us apart from the beginning! But it will backfire on them! As soon as you listen to me and take control of him! _You are his master_!!”

Adrien’s face hardened and he took a deep breath. “Plagg, tell me what happened to my mother,” he said through gritted teeth.

Plagg spun around to stare at Adrien, looking apprehensive. “Kid, I don’t think you want to hear that….”

“Now.”

Plagg sighed. “We imprisoned her,” he admitted, looking up at his wielder shamefacedly.

Marinette had thought Adrien couldn’t look anymore pale and shocked than he already was.  She was wrong. His face went white as his eyes widened.

“ _Why_?” he whispered weakly.

“She was trying to use her Miraculous to gain more powers,” Plagg said, pleading. “We couldn’t let her do that. It would’ve upset the balance!”

Gabriel laughed scornfully. “She was trying to get more power to protect _us_ ,” he corrected. “Evil forces attacked us daily, Adrien. You were nearly kidnapped several times. And all that idiot of a Guardian would do was offer to take what powers she had from her and hope they wouldn’t come for us anymore!”

Suddenly, the Agreste manor’s extraordinary security system started to make more sense.

“You didn’t _want_ our help, remember?” Plagg spat, rounding on Gabriel. “You just wanted to choose who the Miraculous went to so you could keep them for yourselves!”

“Is it wrong to choose our own allies?” Gabriel sneered.

“That’s not how it works!” Plagg snarled. “It’s how we get villains like you!”

“A villain? I have done more for the city of Paris than Ladybug and Cat Noir ever could!” Gabriel retorted. “Who do you think has kept the demons and darkness at bay this past year? I control that which feeds on fear and corruption! Monsters hide in their holes because they know if they step one foot in this city, I can possess them with my akumas! Look at how many I’ve collected!” He spread his arms wide as the white butterflies took to the air.

“Oh congratulations,” Plagg said sarcastically. “While terrorizing the city, you’ve managed to do your job!”

“Enough of this,” Gabriel spat. “Nooroo, dark wings, rise!”

Behind her, Marinette heard a small gasp and a final tug on the ropes that bound her, before a purple streak flew past her to merge with Gabriel’s form. Tears pricked her eyes as she saw Hawkmoth’s true form for the first time. _Nooroo_. Poor Nooroo. He had been trying to free her while the others were distracted. He was so sweet…. _I’ll help you,_ she promised him silently. _I’ll get out of this and save you, somehow._

_Tikki. I have to get to Tikki. Tikki, please be okay._

“Now, Adrien, transform and bring me Ladybug’s earrings,” Hawkmoth ordered. Instead, Adrien sank to his knees, staring at the ground in silent defiance. From where she sat, Marinette could almost feel the anger radiating off both of them.

Finally, Hawkmoth sighed in frustration. “Adrien, together the earrings and the ring can bring your mother back. I managed to find her prison. It’s here. Safe. All I need is the power to open it. The Ultimate Power. Not even Cat Noir’s Cataclysm can do it. We _need_ both,” he said, almost pleading with his son. “With Ladybug’s earrings, we could have her back by tonight!”

“We could ask,” Adrien muttered. “Ladybug might be willing to help.” He shot a glance at her from the corner of his eye. Marinette felt her face pale _. Please don’t let him give me away_ , she begged silently. And even then, she wasn’t quite sure what she would say if he did ask her to bring his mother back. Using a Miraculous to gain more power? Trying to influence the Guardian’s decisions? These didn’t sound like very good choices to Marinette.

Not to mention she had just been kidnapped by these people.

“Ladybug would undoubtedly side with her kwami,” Hawkmoth said scornfully.

“As she should!” Plagg shouted, from where he was hovering around Adrien’s head, trying to make his wielder see sense. “You’re so busy trying to get more power, you don’t even _think_ that we _might_ know what we’re talking about!”

Marinette closed her eyes, feeling the weight of her guilt. Yes, she would talk to Tikki before attempting anything. And considering how passionate Plagg was about the subject (Plagg! Lazy, carefree, cheese-obsessed Plagg!!), she very much doubted Tikki would want to do it either.

Hawkmoth stepped towards Adrien. “Shut him up,” he said, gesturing to the kwami. Plagg hissed at him again, flying closer to Adrien.

“Kid,” he said, pleadingly. “Adrien. Please. Just listen to me for—”

“Plagg,” Adrien said, defeated. “Claws out.”

Marinette felt tears streak down her face as the kwami was sucked into the ring, screaming at his wielder the whole time. When he stood up, Cat Noir’s cat ears were flat against his head and he glared at Hawkmoth. Vaguely, she realized the sun must’ve set sometime, because the whole world seemed darker.

“All right,” Cat Noir growled. “I’ll get the damn earrings. But I won’t fight her, father. I’m not harming Ladybug.”

“Very well,” Hawkmoth agreed.

“And you—don’t hurt Marinette, either,” he said, finally glancing down at her. His eyes widened at her tear-filed gaze, and he quickly looked away.

“Of course,” Hawkmoth practically purred.

Cat Noir glanced at his father and swallowed. “Can I… talk to her first?” he asked, nodding at Marinette.

Hawkmoth considered him for a moment. “Very well,” he allowed. “But should you attempt to free her, her life is forfeit.”

“Fine,” Cat Noir agreed. He reached for her and Hawkmoth’s cane was instantly in front of him. He glared at his father. “Talking means removing the gag, father. That’s all. I won’t untie her.” Hawkmoth hummed at him and slowly moved back. With a quick swipe of his claw, the gag fell to the ground and Marinette gasped, breathing in the sweet, sweet air. Instantly, Cat Noir was crouched in front of her, a worried look on his face.

“Are you all right?” He asked urgently. Not trusting herself to speak just yet, Marinette nodded. He relaxed a bit, and then glared at his father again. “Umm, can we get some privacy here?”

Hawkmoth chuckled. “Don’t push your luck, Adrien. I’ll let you talk to her, but I’m not leaving.”

Cat Noir huffed in annoyance and turned back towards Marinette. He put on a dopey grin. “So, err, as you can see, we’re having some family issues right now. Mom’s in prison, Dad’s trying to take over the world, the usual…. But don’t worry,” he said, suddenly serious again, as his hands came up to cup her face. “I’ll get you out of this, I promise.”

She started to give him a smile, but froze as she felt his fingers brush her earrings. Pale, she stared at him. He wanted to, oh god, _he wanted to_! She could tell. That burning, longing gaze in his eyes. He wanted them. He was begging her with his eyes. Those lovely, iridescent green eyes.

The earrings. They would make his life good again. He’d have his mother back. He and his father would get along better than ever before. His family would be whole.

But at what price?

She closed her eyes, unable to look at his anymore.

“You’re quiet tonight,” he murmured, pulling away slightly, “considering everything we’ve been talking about. Don’t you have anything to _say_ that might, I dunno, _save your life_?”

Marinette looked up at him quizzically. It took her a moment to realize what he was talking about. Why he looked slightly angry at her right now. Oh. _Oh_! He was wondering why she hadn’t transformed the moment he’d cut the gag away. The ropes were tight, but they were nothing Ladybug couldn’t break easily. What must he be thinking? That she cared more about her secret identity than him?

_How could she tell him that she couldn’t transform, without alerting Hawkmoth?_

“Cat Noir,” she said slowly, licking her lips to give herself more time to think how to phrase this. She took a deep breath, even if she was still shaking. “Adrien. You-you’re my… closest friend… right now. And I’m sorry, but…,” she choked up, the full extent of the choice he had to make hitting her, “there’s nothing I can say… to make this better.”

His eyes widened briefly and she knew he got the message. She didn’t have Tikki. No Tikki, no transformation.

“I see,” he said, drawing away from her and standing up. Panic rose in her chest. She didn’t want him to leave. She didn’t want to be alone with Hawkmoth!

“Cat Noir!” she cried. He winked at her and gave her a jaunty salute.

“No worries, princess,” he said lightly. “Just gotta do a chore for my old man. I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere!” And with that, he was out the window and into the night.

Beside her, Hawkmoth chuckled. “Very touching, my dear.”

Anger flooded through Marinette. “How can you do this to him?” she burst out. “He’s your son!”

To her dismay, he chuckled again. “Yes, my son,” he agreed. “My perfect, angelic, _rebellious_ son. He’s gotten so strong. So powerful.”

“Don’t you care about him?” she asked, stricken.

“Of course I do!” he snarled. Apparently, she’d hit a sore spot. “Everything I do is for him! My name, my reputation, my powers, my company and business; it’s all for him! I’ve tried everything I can to bring him up to be perfect. But he continues to defy me at every turn! He was able to resist my akuma earlier. And he helped _you_ break out of my spell as well.” He looked at her and his lip curled. “Does he _know_ the extent of your feelings for him?”

Marinette gulped, feeling a wave of embarrassment. “Yes,” she whispered. He’d found out all of it (more or less) earlier.

_Still, good news! Adrien had been able to resist an akuma!_ She felt a rush of happiness flood her. _Thank God!_ Whatever he had finally decided to use, it had worked. He was safe.

“Why are you happy?” Hawkmoth asked, looking at her curiously. She froze. She’d forgotten he could do that. Hawkmoth could sense her emotions!!

“Umm….”

“The Cat Ring and Ladybug Earrings are two halves of the same whole,” Hawkmoth told her. “Cat Noir will always belong to Ladybug. Therefore, Adrien’s heart is taken. Surely, you must know you can’t compete with a superhero.”

Marinette felt a wave of indignation and quickly forced it down. He was fishing for proof she was Ladybug. He had to be. _Don’t think about **being** Ladybug_, she told herself _. Think about her as a different person. A rival. Feel **those** emotions! Ladybug as a rival. Adrien with Ladybug!_

But, even then…

“It’s just… it’s not that bad,” she said slowly. “I’ve loved him for so long without telling him. And Ladybug..., she’s a good person. At least I know he’ll be happy, right? If he’s happy, then I’m happy. And I can still be his friend, no matter what.”

“That will be enough for you?” Hawkmoth asked, incredulous.

“Well, Adrien cares about his friends,” Marinette quietly. “So, there will always be a _little_ place for me in his heart. Even if it’s not as big as I wanted. Yes. If Cat Noir loves Ladybug, and she loves him back, then I will cheer for them as loudly as anybody.” Then she raised her chin defiantly. “But if he loves her so much, you should know he won’t betray her.”

To her surprise, Hawkmoth started laughing. “You think I don’t know that?” he asked, smirking at her. “My dear, I know my son. He intends to warn Ladybug. They’ll probably swoop in here together, ready to destroy me. But he will still be conflicted, knowing just who he is facing. In fact, I’m counting on it,” He added, his voice hardening. “Adrien is perfect in every way, but one. He lacks _discipline_.

“Fortunately,” he continued, holding out his hand, “I happen to have the means to correct this.” As Marinette watched, a butterfly flew into his outstretched palm. He cupped it and she watched in horror as it turned black before her eyes. An akuma.

“You can’t!” she gasped, before she could stop herself. “You can’t akumatize Adrien! You just said you’ve tried already! And even if he’s conflicted, he’s still a Miraculous wielder! It won’t work!” As soon as the words left her mouth, she wished she hadn’t said them. Hawkmoth turned to her with a raised eyebrow.

“Uh… he, uh, talked to me about it,” she stuttered, trying to find a way to cover for herself. Fortunately, she at least one good instance that might work. “When he was caught leaving my balcony!” she said quickly, silently thanking the reporter she had been cursing earlier. “He came and asked about how I was able to resist and we got to talking… and he admitted he couldn’t be akumatized because he’s got a Miraculous!”

Hawkmoth frowned at her, then smirked. “So, they really haven’t told him anything,” he said, half to himself. Marinette stared at him and he chuckled again. “I’ll let you in on a little secret, Miss Dupain-Cheng,” he said slowly, enjoying himself. “Miraculous wielders _can_ be akumatized. But only under a very special set of circumstances. You see, their mind must be frazzled, so they cannot think to call upon their power. It must hit at a time of great shock, to keep them from fighting back. And they must experience _a despair so deep, they embrace the darkness with all they are_.”

Marinette’s mind worked furiously to keep up. But Tikki had reassured them that day in her room… _“Miraculous wielders can’t be possessed by other Miraculous unless they’re willing.”_

_“Or they’re having a really bad day,”_ Plagg had muttered. And then Tikki had shot him one of her “shut up now” looks.

Marinette swallowed. So that’s what Plagg had meant.

“And luckily for me, there is a very easy way to achieve all of this,” Hawkmoth continued, pacing until he was standing right in front of her. “Adrien must experience, first hand, the death of someone he loves. Someone he trusts. Someone, perhaps, that he was supposed to protect?”

Marinette felt a cold, hard ball of fear sink into stomach as she looked up at Hawkmoth. He smiled, ice cold, back at her.

“I am sorry it had to be like this, my dear. You had so much potential. Do you have any final words?”

She gaped at him, as the room started to spin with her panic. _No, no, no, no! This couldn’t be happening! Not like this! She had so much left to do!_! Dazed, she blinked, seeing spots. No! _A_ spot! NO! A small, bright-pink bundle of hope and joy, streaking towards her determinedly through the night, right above his head, even as Hawkmoth raised his cane. And just like that, Marinette snapped back to herself, panic gone.

“Actually, Hawkmoth,” she said calmly. “I do.”

He froze. She smirked at him.

“Spots on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next: Chapter 9: In Which a Major Beatdown Goes Down (finally)


	9. In Which a Major Beatdown Goes Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just FYI, an alternate title for this chapter was: In Which Hawkmoth Really Hates Teenagers.

** Issues **

_“My ring is charged with energy. My claws are out, just watch and see.” – Miraculous Theme_

**Chapter 9: In Which a Major Beatdown Goes Down**

 

Cat Noir raced through the night, feeling nine kinds of stupid. He had known! He had known since lunch! Marinette’s father had come in and told everyone that they’d found her purse! Of course Tikki had still been inside it! If Marinette hadn’t been able to fight back, Tikki would’ve stayed hidden! And if she _had_ fought back, well, she certainly wouldn’t have been captured, that was for sure!

_Stupid. Idiotic. Cat!_

Then he was on her balcony, and he wasted no more time, opening the latch and flinging himself into her room. He had to get to Tikki. She was their only hope right now! He searched frantically, looking through drawers, the bed, the closet ( _oh look, more pictures! No! No time, Cat!_ )—

“Hey! Who’s up there?” Tom’s voice called. He came up a moment later, brandishing a rolling pin. His eyes widened at who he found in his daughter’s bedroom. “Cat Noir?!”

“No time to explain,” Cat Noir said quickly. “I need Marinette’s purse! Now!”

The man swallowed whatever he had been about to say and nodded, leading the way downstairs. Marinette’s mother was seated at the table, crouched over. She looked up and gasped when she saw him. Cat Noir braced himself for a quick explanation and a promise to apologize more thoroughly later, when she ran to him, cupping something in both hands.

“Is this what you need?” she asked urgently, holding out her hands to him. Cat Noir’s jaw dropped as he saw Tikki laying in her hands. The little kwami didn’t look good. She had what looked like a huge purple bruise on the side of her head and shoulder. “I tried to do what I could for her,” Sabine said, her eyes filled with tears, “but not much has worked.”

Cat Noir carefully took the little kwami from the woman. Tikki seemed to curl around his ring instinctively. What had Plagg said? They’d heal faster if they were together? Was it the same for their kwamis? Did he need to release his transformation? Did they have enough time??

“Tikki,” he whispered urgently, “can you hear me?” A shudder ran through the kwami, followed what could be taken for a nod. “I need to get you to Marinette,” he said quietly. “Will you be able to transform?” Another shudder and a shake of the head. “Should I release Plagg?” he asked, growing desperate. “Will that help you?” Another shake. He wanted to sob in helplessness. He couldn’t take her to Hawkmoth like this, she’d be a sitting duck!

A soft cry made him look up. “So, it’s true then?” Sabine asked. “She’s Ladybug? My daughter?”

Cat Noir felt his throat close. How could he lie to them? But if she didn’t want her parents to know….

“We’ve suspected something was off for a while now,” Tom explained, putting a hand on his wife’s shoulder.

“It’s not my place to say,” Cat Noir said, finally, regretfully. “I’m sorry.”

“Can’t you help her?” Tom asked urgently. “Can you save our daughter?”

Cat hung his head. “Hawkmoth has her,” he admitted, tears threatening to fall. “And using Tikki here is the only way to save her.” She was tied up and captured, with no way to defend herself, and he couldn’t even help her kwami! What good was some stupid power of destruction?? What good was _he_ without _her_??

Sabine took a deep breath and wiped her eyes, her face hardening in determination. “All right, Tom,” she said, stepping closer to Cat Noir and raising her hands as though she was going to push him. “You catch me when I fall.” Cat Noir looked at them and raised his eyebrow, but the large baker just held up his hand for silence and stepped behind his wife.

Then Sabine started chanting in Chinese. Cat Noir felt the hair on the back of his neck rise and sternly resisted the urge to hiss. Thanks to his education, he could understand that she was saying something about healing—wait, was Tikki glowing??? He gaped at the kwami in his hands. As quickly as she had started, the magic was over, and Sabine slumped into her husband’s waiting arms.

“Is she--?” Cat Noir asked, reaching towards them in concern.

Tom shook his head as he crossed to the living room and laid his wife down on the couch by the wall. “She’ll be fine in a few minutes. We just don’t have the kind of powers you kids do.” Cat Noir blinked. Apparently, he and Marinette weren’t the only ones with secrets in their families.

“Tikki?” Cat asked hopefully, looking back at the kwami in his hands. She seemed to be breathing easier. Then she opened her eyes and looked at him.

“Cat Noir,” she said weakly.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you to Marinette,” he promised.

“It won’t matter,” she said, coughing. “You’ll never get there in time. I need—I need your help.”

“Name it. Anything!”

“I need you to use your power on me.”

“WHAT? Tikki—!”

“Not the Cataclysm,” she said, wheezing. “You have… another. It’s called the Catalyst. I’m sor-sorry. Plagg doesn’t like to use it—”

“Plagg doesn’t like to do a lot of things,” Cat Noir muttered.

“ _Adrien_!” she coughed out, making him focus on her. “You need to listen.” -cough cough- “This will _hurt_ _you_ if you use it. That-that’s why.”

Cat Noir felt a chill run down his spine. No doubt a warning from Plagg. She wasn’t kidding. This new power was dangerous.

_Still_.

“What do I need to do?” he asked immediately.

She gave him a grateful, mournful look. “Focus,” she said, trying to steady her own voice. He closed his eyes. “Focus your power on me. Remember: entropy is running. All things return to nothing.” Cat Noir furrowed his brow. He vaguely remembered learning something about that theory…. “Accept the idea that time is a force of destruction. Now, focus on helping it along. Speeding things up. Speeding me up.”

He felt something inside him building. Dark. Ominous. It repulsed him. He didn’t want to focus it on _her_. It took everything he had not to recoil.

_This would help_ , he reminded himself. **_This would kill her!_** another part screamed.

“Now, speak the word.”

**_NO!! NO!!_** His mind screamed. _Focus on speeding her up_ , he reminded himself firmly. _Speed up her healing._

“ _Catalyst!!_ ” he heard himself shout.

He felt a whoosh as all the heat from his body was suddenly sucked into his ring and then pushed into the kwami in his hands. Forget the little glow she’d had during Sabine’s healing ritual, now she lit up the room, temporarily blinding him.

And then… then he couldn’t stop the scream that tore itself from his throat. Once, during a winter photoshoot, his hands and feet had gotten a light case of frostbite while waiting for the photographer to get everything right. His father had been furious. Many people had gotten fired that day. Not that the younger him had cared much, because his hands and feet felt like pins and needles repeatedly poking him and it hurt so much. It hadn’t lasted long, but to him it had been agony.

This was a thousand times worse.

This was swords and sabers instead of pins and needles, and they were _everywhere_. His arms and legs felt like they were on fire. His stomach cramped. His chest hurt. He couldn’t see. Couldn’t hear. Couldn’t _breathe_.

Welcome blackness rushed up to meet him, but only for a moment. The energy of the Cat Ring kept him from losing consciousness completely, so he was quite aware of when Tom caught him just before he hit the floor.

“Easy, kiddo, I got ya,” he heard the man saying.

“Breathe, Cat Noir!” another voice ordered. It sounded familiar, high and friendly, but the timbre was slightly different. Stronger. More powerful. _But still_ , he thought instinctively _, completely trustworthy_. He tried to obey, but it was hard to get around his chattering teeth.

“Breathe! Oh no. Claws in, Adrien! Say it! Claws in!”

“C-c-c-cl-l-l-l-a-a-w-s i-i-in-n-n,” he repeated through his chattering teeth. Instantly, the magic supporting him vanished and he collapsed into blissful unconsciousness for a moment.

When he came to, he was laying on his side on one end of the “L” shaped couch, with Marinette’s mother laying on the other. He found he was able to respond a bit better to the voices repeatedly telling him to breathe, even if he immediately choked on what he hoped was his own spit and not the blood it tasted like.

“He’s going to need blankets and food as soon as possible,” he heard the high, strong voice saying. “Adrien? Adrien, can you hear me?”

“Tikki?” he gasped out.

“I’m right here,” she assured him. But she still sounded worried. Urgent. _Marinette_!! his mind screamed, reminding him. Adrenaline rushed through his veins. “Oh, I wish I could help you more—”

“WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE??” he screamed at her. “She needs you!! _Sacré-Cœur_! Hawkmoth has her at _Sacré-Cœur! GO!!”_

He still couldn’t see anything, but the world instantly felt a bit dimmer. He focused on breathing for a few moments. “Is she gone?” he asked weakly, not knowing who was still in the room with him.

“She’s gone,” Plagg’s voice confirmed, sounding just as exhausted as Adrien felt.

“I’ve never seen anything move so fast in my life,” Tom added, draping a blanket over Adrien’s shoulders. The heat was bliss. He pulled it tightly around himself, trembling. That had sucked. Literally.

“Plagg?” he called. “Are you all right?”

“You are the craziest wielder I’ve had in a long time, kid,” the kwami said breathlessly. “Have I told you how much I love you?”

Tom chuckled at them. “Is there anything more I can do to help?” he asked.

“Do you have any camembert?” Adrien laughed shakily. “I need to get back there.”

* * *

 

Marinette felt the familiar rush of power flow over her as soon as she called on her transformation, but Hawkmoth was already moving. Time seemed to slow down as she watched him lunge for her. Quickly, she threw herself backwards, using the surge of power in her system to break the ropes holding her to the chair. She still hit the ground, though. Then she yelped and dodged, just as his cane drove hard into the ground where her head had been. Desperate to get some space between them, she kicked out at him, cursing inwardly when he easily caught her leg.

She barely got her arm up in time as he swung at her head again. Growling, she twisted in his grip and kicked at his face with her other leg. He dodged it and almost lazily threw her against the wall. She landed in a crouch, looking up just in time to see his hand pointed at her.

She gasped as she was swarmed by the hoard of little white butterflies, all of them turning black as they dove at her, and she quickly brought her arms up to protect her face. They didn’t hurt, not in the physical sense. Instead, whenever one of them touched her, she felt a jolt of negative emotions. Pain. Depression. Heartbreak. Loneliness. Disappointment. Anger. _Rage_.

Quickly, she took out her yo-yo and started twirling it in front of herself, creating a shield between her and the akumas. They dispersed. She shook her head to clear it and glared at Hawkmoth.

“Well, well, well, it seems I was right after all,” he smirked at her. “Miss Dupain-Cheng, the elusive Ladybug.”

She stopped twirling and held her yo-yo at the ready. “Hawkmoth.”

“If you hand over your Miraculous now, I assure you, we can work out a deal that favors both of us,” he said, holding out his hand.

“Not gonna happen,” she said, shifting into a deeper crouch.

He chuckled darkly. “I had a feeling you would say that.” He thrust out his hand towards her again. “Volpina! Money Bags! To me!!”

She felt her eyes widen. _Volpina?? Oh, for the love of all things sweet and cuddly—wait, **two**?? Two akumatized villains?? **And** Hawkmoth?? Not good, not good, not good!! Hopefully, Cat Noir will show up soon and_—but then came a spark. An understanding. Almost as if Tikki was whispering in her ear. Cat Noir wasn’t coming. He’d done something. Helped her. Was hurt and unable to come to her rescue again.

She looked at Hawkmoth and narrowed her eyes. _Good_. She didn’t want Adrien to have to see what she was going to do to his dad. And she’d rather do it before he got the backup he’d just ordered. She grasped her yo-yo and prepared to throw it high.

“ _Lucky_ —!” mid-throw, she caught sight of the look on Hawkmoth’s face and quickly aborted. His grin was positively gleeful! He wanted her to use the Lucky Charm!! But, why?

_The timer._

She gulped as she realized. Hawkmoth was in this for the end game. He wanted her Miraculous. And he had to have some tricks up his sleeve; they were in his own secret villain lair! After she activated the Lucky Charm, she’d only have minutes before she’d be completely helpless against him and any minions he could conjure up.

Could she get to his Miraculous in time? She could see it plainly on the front of his collar, just daring her to try for it. Something inside told her no. He had a plan. And it involved getting her to use her Miraculous.

Of course! Hawkmoth wasn’t a fighter! Even if he had a Miraculous himself, his specialty was sending out other people to do his dirty work for him! Even now, when he had her right where he wanted her, instead of attacking her, he was waiting for his lackeys to come and get her!

She looked at his face again and smirked. Sure enough, he looked disappointed that she hadn’t gone through with the Charm. Instead, she started twirling her yo-yo again, walking towards him confidently.

She had to give him one thing: he kept his cool, even when she changed tactics on him. Seeing her walking towards him, he merely snorted and raised an eyebrow.

“What are you doing, Ladybug?” he asked, calmly. Mockingly. “Surely you realize the only way to defeat me is to use your powers?”

“I dunno, Hawkmoth,” she drawled lazily. “You _did_ try to akumatize your own son. I kinda just wanna kick your ass for a while. You know, for Cat’s sake.”

He chuckled at her. “And when Adrien learns what you’ve done to his precious father? The only family he has left in the world??” he pressed.

“I think he’ll forgive me,” she said, letting her yo-yo fly.

He blocked it with his cane, snarling at her. “You obviously know nothing of how he feels! How he thinks!!”

“Says the man who forgot his own son’s birthday!” she shot back, striking at him a few more times, trying to get a good shot. For the first time, she was angry at the Miraculous armor. It would make sure she couldn’t even give him a bruise like this…. Still, he looked surprised at her statement. And there was more than one way to strike a blow. “ _I_ was the one who knitted him that scarf for his birthday! And then you took the credit! _Pathetic_ ,” she spat, mocking his earlier words, “is what _that_ is.”

“Why you!” he looked outraged and lunged at her. She parried, dodged, and ran around to the other side of the room as he tried to catch her with his butterfly swarm again. _Damn, he was good with that cane. Apparently, Adrien wasn’t the only one who’d taken up fencing._

But, ohhh, she wanted to hurt him. In _any_ way she could. She tried a few more angles with her yo-yo before giving up. She didn’t dare get close to go hand-to-hand with him; he still had his cane, and his defense was perfect.

She stood up. Even without being able to use her yo-yo, she had plenty of weapons.

“And I’ll let _you_ in on a little secret, Mr. Agreste,” she said slowly, still mocking him. “Adrien’s already chosen his side. He lied to you. Cat Noir has known my secret identity for a while now.”

“WHAT??” The rage on his face was priceless.

“You left my kwami behind when you kidnapped me,” she said, smirking. Whether it had been him or a lackey, it was still a blow to _him_. “Cat just went to go get it for me. Judging by how I’m easy to _spot_ now, I’d say he was successful, wouldn’t you?” She couldn’t help but throw in a pun in Cat Noir’s honor, as she pretended to examine her nails. She could hear him grinding his teeth as she blatantly dismissed him as a threat.

She decided to up the ante even more. “He’s probably just waiting for an opportunity to jump at you from behind.” That bluff had worked before, after all. Sure enough, Hawkmoth started looking around the room in alarm, still clearly furious with her. She crouched down and prepared to strike him while he was distracted. Then another voice broke through the air.

“She’s lying to you!”

Ladybug gasped and both she and Hawkmoth turned to see the owner of the voice step into the light of the room. Volpina glared back at her defiantly.

“She’s used that trick on me before!” she cried. Ladybug grimaced. Great. The one villain she really didn’t want to see right now. Or ever again, actually. Would a yo-yo to the face be enough to shut her up for good?

“Finally!” Hawkmoth said, sounding exasperated with his lackey. “Volpina, get me her Miraculous!”

“No!” she shouted. Both Ladybug and Hawkmoth stared at her in shock. “You lied to me!” she screamed, pointing her finger at him accusingly. “You told me I could have Adrien once I defeated Ladybug and Cat Noir! But Adrien _is_ Cat Noir!!”

“I didn’t lie, you little fool!” Hawkmoth snarled, shaking in anger. “Once Ladybug and Cat Noir are defeated, Adrien will be easy to turn! If you had managed to do your job before, we could’ve freed him from the power of the Cat Ring already! NOW GET ME LADYBUG’S MIRACULOUS!!”

Ladybug had to admit, Hawkmoth was good at what he did. Volpina dove forward with a sob, clearly intent on getting _something_ out of this. Then, out of the shadows, a fist connected with her cheek and she went down, hard. She didn’t get back up.

“IMBECILE!!” Hawkmoth roared as a large, dark figure separated itself from the shadows. “WHY WOULD YOU—?”

“I owed Foxy,” said the dark-clad man who must be Money Bags. “She done turned on me earlier. Didn’t want the same thing t’ happen t’ you. An’ don’ worry, Hawkmoth. I got Red.” He leered at Ladybug. Suddenly, all the Miraculous armor in the world didn’t feel like enough to cover her up.

He charged at her and his hand burst into flame. Ladybug’s eyes widened and she quickly dodged, throwing her yo-yo to hopefully distract him as she put some distance between them. _Not good, not good, not good! Oh, how she wished Cat Noir were here!_ At the thought of her partner, she felt some of her power drain away, leaving her colder. She blinked.

_WAIT, WHAT??_

She looked down at her body and gasped. The butterflies had been following her every move, creating distractions every so often as they touched her, but she hadn’t thought anything of it until now… when she realized that everywhere they had touched her, there was now a black spot on her suit that was _growing_ ….

So that was why she was feeling so angry! So willing to lash out in any way she could!! He was manipulating her!! _Hawkmoth was trying to akumatize her! Slowly!!_

_OH MY GOD!! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!! FOCUS, LADYBUG!! Focus on—_

_HAWKMOTH!!!_

She glared up at Hawkmoth, gritting her teeth as she felt the red-hot of the akumas start to crawl up her suit again. _Oh, she wanted to hurt him so badly! Make him pay! Make him pay for all the damage he’d done! All the pain he’d caused!!_ Tears streamed from her eyes, half-blinding her as she lunged at him again, twirling her yo-yo.

_Just one good shot and she could end this!_

She barely caught movement out of the corner of her eye before Money Bags’s fist connected with her cheek. She went sprawling across the room. She cursed herself inwardly. _She’d **just** seen him take out Volpina in the same way! How pathetic was **she**???_ Breathing heavily, she couldn’t do much more than lay there for a moment, hearing nothing but the ringing in her ears and Hawkmoth’s maniacal laughter. Her head felt like it was in a clamp again; the fire rushing through her veins as she struggled to think through all the negative emotions.

_I can’t let him control me like this._

_I can’t let it end this way._

_I have to fight._

_I’m_ —she choked as a huge hand grabbed her by the throat and lifted her into the air. Her arms and legs felt heavy, refusing to respond to her demands that she fight, and all she could do was hang there limply.

“Well done, Money Bags,” Hawkmoth was saying in satisfaction. “I see I have finally found someone worthy of keeping the powers I’ve bestowed upon them. Now, bring me her Miraculous. Without it, she’ll be completely akumatized by the time Cat Noir gets here, and Adrien will have a little surprise waiting for him….” He chuckled darkly. Money Bags laughed with him.

“Hear that, Red?” he said to her lowly, bringing her face closer to his. “Looks like things won’t be able to _heat up_ between us like I’d hoped.” She felt him bring his other hand close to her cheek, still flaming hot. She cringed away from it, still desperately needing to breathe.

In the back of her mind, all she could think was, _Ugh, flirting and puns. Ew, gross. You are no Cat Noir, buddy._

And with just the thought of him, her mind was suddenly filled with images of her kitty, and his civilian counterpart. _Cat Noir laughing, kissing her hand, grinning at her suggestively, holding his fist out for hers…. Adrien smiling at her in school, blushing so cutely, encouraging her to do her best, even when she was a stammering, stuttering mess around him…._

_I love you,_ she thought with a smile.

She felt her whole body warm and strength poured back into her limbs.

Money Bags had gotten too close for his own good in order to tease her. One swing back to wind up, and she slammed her knee up into his chin. He let her go with a cry and she fell to the floor, rolling to regain her equilibrium.

“NO!” Hawkmoth was shouting in the background, but Ladybug was more focused on Money Bags’s angry roar as he charged her blindly, his hand bursting into flame again. She couldn’t do a Lucky Charm against him, not with Hawkmoth still waiting for it, and he was bigger than her, heavier, and far too dangerous for her to try to ignore him again. She narrowed her eyes. She didn’t really like to pull this move if she could help it, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and she was _not_ going to let Hawkmoth win!

So, once he got close enough, she pulled back and kicked him hard, right between the legs.

The high squeal he emitted would’ve been more at home coming from a small girl like Manon instead of a fully-grown man. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he collapsed, unconscious.

“Sorry,” she winced. Then she turned her attention to the remaining supervillain in the room. Hawkmoth was gaping at her like he couldn’t believe she’d just done that.

“Oh, you’re next, Hawkmoth,” she assured him, twirling her yo-yo and running straight for him.

“That wasn’t exactly _ladylike_ ,” he said, parrying and dodging her every attack.

She gave him a flat stare. “Seriously? The Evil Overlord is giving me etiquette lessons?”

“At least I have more class.”

“Oh, _please_!” Ladybug exclaimed, rolling her eyes and blocking his next attack. “Who was it that tried to brainwash a _five-year-old_??”

Hawkmoth chuckled. “One of my best villains,” he said fondly. “She nearly had you.” Ladybug narrowed her eyes and swung her yo-yo. It caught around the hand he held his cane in and wound around his neck as well. Ruthlessly, she pulled it tight. He grabbed the wire to stop himself from being choked. Smirking, she was about to make a joke about him being all tied up, when he pulled her closer.

“Did you _hate_ fighting her, Ladybug?” he whispered softly. “Was it _hard_ , knowing she was innocent? Someone you loved? Perhaps I should make more villains out of the people you love. Friends? _Family_?” Ladybug’s eyes widened and he smirked at her. “Yes. Yes, that will do quite nicely. Shall we go see what happens?”

She blinked at him, especially when he looped her own yo-yo string around her wrists and pulled her even closer. She struggled, crying out as she felt something pull her forward, into nothingness… then her whole body felt like it was being pulled through a thin tube, stretching and squeezing, and she opened her mouth to scream… when suddenly all the pressure disappeared with a pop.

She fell forward, collapsing on the ground. _What had Hawkmoth—_ she gasped in alarm and looked around frantically. _They were somehow on her balcony! To her room!_

_HAWKMOTH CAN TELEPORT!!_ her mind screamed frantically. _OH MY GOD, HAWKMOTH CAN TELEPORT!!_ Volpina’s powers had shown him doing it, but she’d convinced herself that Volpina didn’t really know what the man was capable of… then again, she’d gotten the costume right too— _But HAWKMOTH COULD TELEPORT!! HE WAS AT HER HOUSE!! OH NO, NO, NO, NO! NOT GOOD, NOT GOOD!!_

“My akumas are unable to go into private homes without express permission from its residents,” Hawkmoth said, breathing heavily. He chuckled lowly. “But since I have _you_ with me, someone who _does_ live here and calls it home, well, it’s a nice loophole, don’t you think?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next: Chapter 10: In Which There Are Consequences


	10. In Which There Are Consequences

** Issues **

_“It's Ladybug! Jumping above! The power is on when things go wrong!” -Miraculous Theme_

**Chapter 10: In Which There Are Consequences**

 

Ladybug stared at Hawkmoth in horror. While she was still in shock, he lifted up the hatch to her room and dove down, pulling her along with him. Only once they’d gotten past her bed and computer did the reality of the situation grab ahold of her. She dug in her heels, frantically pulling on her yo-yo string to stop him.

“MOM! DAD! RUN!!” she screamed desperately. She heard noises below and her father calling her name hopefully. “NO!! RUN!!!” she shrieked. Hawkmoth was pulling her along, as though she was little more than an annoyance, already at the top of her stairs, ready to go down and akumatize her parents right in front of her—

“NOOO!!” Ladybug launched herself at Hawkmoth, attaching herself to his neck and trying to grab his brooch. He grabbed her hand with his free one, but they were already overcorrecting, and they both tumbled down the stairs in a heap. Her head hit the wall hard. And she was already weak and dizzy from the akumas. _Oh God, Oh God, noooo… her head was spinning so much…. Mom! Dad! No!!_

“Marinette?!” she heard her father call.

Hawkmoth stood, pulling her yo-yo string off himself while she was still too dazed to stop him. He chuckled lowly at the thought of what he was about to do to the superheroine.

“Your daughter has been very-badly behaved this evening, Mr. Dupain—,” he stopped at the sight of who else was in the room with them. “ _YOU_.”

Adrien clutched a large blanket around himself and backed away from his father, white and shaking. Hawkmoth advanced on him ruthlessly, all thoughts of akumatizing Ladybug’s parents forgotten in the face of this new prize.

“Plagg, claws out! Claws out!” Adrien cried frantically, stumbling backwards. He transformed into Cat Noir, but even from where she was on the ground, Ladybug could see that he was still out of breath and trembling as he held his baton in front of himself defensively.

“ _Traitor_ ,” Hawkmoth snarled and knocked the stick out of his hands with a single swipe of his cane. “You _dare_ stand before me—!”

“You think I’d be _proud_ to have a supervillain for a father??” Cat Noir shouted, as he stumbled back and tripped on the coffee table, falling onto it.

Tom Dupain stepped towards them. “That’s enough—” Hawkmoth narrowed his eyes at the man.

“Papa, no!” Ladybug cried, scrambling to her feet. She swung her yo-yo at Hawkmoth again, just barely catching his hand before he could swing the cane at her father.

“ _You’re_ starting to _bug_ me!” Hawkmoth spat at her, thrusting out his hand at her again. She yelped as she was swarmed by akumas once more. To her dismay, she heard her parents cry out as well. _NO! She couldn’t let him—_ Through the akumas, she saw Hawkmoth grab Cat Noir by his bell. “Let’s go have a _chat_ , shall we??” he hissed at his son. Cat managed to grab his baton, but his eyes widened as he felt the pressure around him shift.

Ladybug leapt at Hawkmoth desperately, just barely grabbing his arm before she felt that same sucking, stretching feeling as the world pressed in all around her—and pop! They were out again and she finished tackling Hawkmoth. Or would’ve, if the man hadn’t somehow suddenly stepped out way at the last moment, turning as she struck him and using her own momentum to knock her away. She bounced and rolled to a stop. _Dammit, he was good._

She shook her head to clear it again and looked around. They were back in Hawkmoth’s lair, all darkness and cold light. She breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully this meant he’d given up on akumatizing her parents. Strangely, she didn’t see Volpina or Money Bags anywhere—

“Ladybug!” she heard Cat Noir cry.

She looked up to see Cat Noir dueling with Hawkmoth, the baton and cane ringing eerily each time they met. Cat was already out of breath, and completely on the defensive. She sprang up to help him, flinging her yo-yo at Hawkmoth just as he managed to knock the stick out of Cat Noir’s hands again. Her yo-yo wound around his waist and she jerked him back, just as he kicked her partner to the ground.

Hawkmoth snarled at her and somehow managed to get his feet back underneath himself as she rammed her knee into his stomach. She was expecting him to be down from that one, so she was completely unprepared for the uppercut that took her in the chin. She went flying and landed bonelessly. She struggled to get her bearings back, but even Cat Noir’s livid scream was distant in her ears.

“Weren’t you the one who taught me to never hit a lady??” he yelled, furiously attacking his father. Hawkmoth backhanded him almost casually and sent a swarm of akumas to surround him. Cat curled into a ball against their attacks, screaming defiance and clutching his head against the invasive emotions.

“I see no _lady_ ,” Hawkmoth said, looking at Ladybug with his lip curled. “Just a pesky insect that needs to be _squashed_.” He shifted his grip on his cane and advanced on the fallen superheroine. Cat Noir’s eyes widened as he realized what Hawkmoth intended to do.

“Father, NO!” he yelled, trying to get up and swiping at the akumas surrounding him. They avoided him easily, diving back and forth to touch him again and again and again, making him feel angry, alone, helpless, miserable—even his new powers couldn’t get them all! “No, stop! I’LL DO ANYTHING!!”

“Yes, you will,” Hawkmoth said with satisfaction, relishing his imminent victory. He didn’t stop, or even turn to acknowledge the boy on the floor. “Anything and everything I want, whenever I want. Like the perfect son you were meant to be.” He tapped the jewel on his cane once, and another akuma flew up, darker than the rest, fluttering towards Cat Noir. Cat stared at the butterfly in utter despair.

_That—that was what he wanted?_

Ladybug turned her head at her partner’s cry, still dazed, even with her Miraculous working hard to fix the damage. Vaguely, she wondered why Hawkmoth kept hitting her in the head. _Was he trying to knock her earrings out by sheer force? Aw, hell, he might be… he’d certainly tried stranger things…._

She felt herself focus as a large shadow loomed over her and looked up to see Hawkmoth raising his cane above his head, a victorious sneer already on his face. Adrenaline rushed through her veins and her eyes widened. _MOVE, LADYBUG!!_

“ _CATACLYSM_!”

She stared in horror as Hawkmoth froze in place. Every single akuma in the room abruptly dropped to the floor. Ladybug didn’t dare breathe. Her gut churning, she watched as a sickly, faded grey spread over Hawkmoth’s dark purple outfit, cracking and crumbling off him as it went. It spread through his whole body, including, Ladybug realized with rising bile, to his head. As his cowl disintegrated around him, he gave one shallow, stuttering breath, and collapsed to the floor.

Behind him stood Cat Noir, his hand still outstretched and raised to where the center of Hawkmoth’s back had been. Cat stared at the open space where the villain had been standing, and his whole body started shaking.

And then they heard a loud _crack!_ as the Moth Brooch split right down the middle.

As if that crack had been a signal, the akumas suddenly shot into the air, whirling around the room, faster and higher than ever before. Soon, she couldn’t even see the individual butterflies. She could see, however, when Cat Noir fell to his knees, his transformation falling away as he gazed down at his father in shock.

Then the akumas started dropping. Not all once, but random, individual ones would suddenly dive down to the people below. Ladybug winced and cried out as the sparks of despair, rage, and other dark emotions seeped into her mind once more. Desperate, she spun her yo-yo above her as a shield. But Adrien didn’t look like he could move, much less protect himself. Gritting her teeth, she prepared to call on her power—

“DON’T USE THE LUCKY CHARM!” Plagg’s voice shouted at her. She looked over to him. He was flopped on the ground beside Adrien’s shaking form, looking utterly spent. It seemed to have taken everything out of him to warn her. Wheezing, he struggled to raise his head and look at her. “Don’t… you won’t….”

His voice faded away as he collapsed from exhaustion, but Ladybug got the picture. If she used it now, it wouldn’t work. Not against all of them. In fact, if this growing unease in her gut was any indication, there was something much darker at work here that would take advantage of her powers as soon as she used them. The akumas started dropping faster, some of them even getting through her defense. She looked down to see her suit was already half-black; the darkness slowly crawling up her body to claim her.

_We have to get out of here!_ She thought desperately. Gingerly, she scrambled over Hawkmoth’s body (pointedly not looking at the man) and tried to grab Adrien, who was now curled up on the floor. The akumas seemed to be focusing on him especially, and his body was already almost completely covered. He must be totally overcome by negative emotions! Not that she could blame him, she couldn’t imagine what he was going through right now, but—

“Adrien!” she cried, trying to get him to respond. She spun her yo-yo shield, but it didn’t help much; they were both already covered in the butterflies. “Adrien,” she tried again, grabbing his arm, “c’mon, we have to get out—”

“Go, Ladybug,” she heard him rasp out.

“Get up, c’mon! I’ll help you!”

“Leave me here.”

“WHAT?” she cried. “No way!”

“You need to get out.”

“Not without you!!”

“Ladybug,” he whispered, finally raising his head to look at her. “I’m already gone.” She stared at him in horror as he glared up at her. Instead of their usual iridescent green, his eyes were a bright, cold purple. And even as she watched, the darkness covering his body started to bubble, changing his form.

“No,” she cried softly, choking on her tears. He closed his eyes and turned away from her, grimacing in pain.

“Go, Bugaboo,” he gasped out, “only you can save me.”

She stepped back, closed her eyes, and finally saw everything with perfect clarity.

_Panicked, injured, and half-akumatized herself, her Lucky Charm would never be enough to save them both. She would need to go and heal herself, while the akumas dispersed themselves all over Paris. And she would have to fight them all, one by one, saving Paris without her beloved, fun-loving Cat by her side._

_Because, once he was also healed, Cat Noir would be standing in front of her, not beside her. Those purple eyes glaring at her. His warm laughter turned ice cold. His baton turned against her._

_His claws at her throat._

Oh, she saw it all clearly, this destiny that had been chosen for them.

_Adrien at school, cold to the pity of their classmates for his loss. Her, unable to confront him without revealing their identities. Forced to watch the boy she had once loved become dark and warped. His light-hearted jokes becoming snide comments. Open laughter turned to cruel snickers. Unmoved if he hurt someone. Not caring if he made someone cry. Every warm smile turned into a smirk. The puns he had once loved, now mocked with his own mouth. All of their happy memories, tainted and thrown out like garbage._

_Or maybe he’d return to being homeschooled; completely cut off from the rest of the world like his father had wanted. And she would only see him whenever he wanted to fight her…._

_And Oh, God, she’d **have** to fight him. She have to fight Adrien. Cat Noir. Over and over and over again until one of them won. He’d be a villain a thousand times worse than Hawkmoth had ever been. _

_The Cataclysm, used on helpless civilians. Everything he’d ever had cause to hate in his life; utterly destroyed with no inhibitions._

_Including her._

_Dark Cupid? Oh, that was child’s play. He knew her now. He knew her feelings for him, and would use them against her ruthlessly._

_This was why they weren’t supposed to reveal their identities_ , she realized. _Not even to a trusted partner. Nowhere would truly be safe for her until he was defeated. This had happened before; this dance of destruction and creation. The Cat against the Bug. It hadn’t always ended well_ (flashes of explosions and screams flickered through her brain) _but if she believed in herself—_ She threw her head back and sobbed.

_Trust yourself!_ Tikki had chirped at her that first day. And Marinette had, and had gone on to save Paris and become a superhero… and everything had been good. It could be that way again.

_It’ll all work out. Just go,_ she seemed to hear Tikki say. _You’ll save him eventually._ _It’ll all be okay in the end._

_But it wouldn’t be,_ she argued as she opened her eyes and watched the rest of Adrien’s prone form get consumed by the darkness. _He’ll still be alone. All alone now, because of me._

_‘Eventually’ was a long time to hope no long-term damage was done. And he was so close to breaking already._

**No.**

_If he was close to breaking, she’d hold him together with her bare hands if she had to!_

_I’m sorry, Tikki_ , she thought as she stepped forward again, oblivious to the akumas surrounding her _. I tried to tell you before. I’m not cut out for this superhero business._ She could feel her powers reacting; pushing her to leave, to save Paris like she was supposed to. Instead, she knelt beside Adrien, pulling him into her lap. To her surprise, the darkness melted away from his face as soon as she touched him.

_Oh, thank you_ , Ladybug thought _. I get to see him one more time._

His eyes fluttered open. Purple, not green, but she could recall perfectly what they were supposed to look like.

“What are you doing?” Adrien whispered hoarsely. “You need to—”

“I’m not leaving you,” she said simply. Then, before she could lose her nerve, she bent down and kissed him firmly on the mouth.

Her heart pounded as the fire in her veins increased. _Fine. Let the akumas have me_. She felt a jolt as he reached up to clutch her, kissing her back desperately. _Let Paris burn. They’ll find another superhero. They always do. They’ll defeat us._ She cradled him, pulling him closer and never breaking their kiss. She thought she heard him murmur something against her lips, but the pressure in her head and her chest was increasing. It would overpower her soon….

_I will **not** leave him. I would never abandon the one I love to the darkness._

_It can take us both._

_I choose him._

_I love you, Adrien. My Cat Noir._

_Goodbye._

The pressure all around her burst, and she cried out as white-hot heat surrounded them.

* * *

 

Master Fu paced in his apartment restlessly. Too much had been going on today. Wayzz was positively zipping around with worry. Even the kwamis who weren’t activated were buzzing in their box. More akumas lately. The feeling that something had changed in the dynamic between the holders of the Cat Ring and Ladybug Earrings. (He still smiled at that one. He’d been anticipating it for a while now, and it wasn’t a dark aura... plus, they were teenagers! Ah, young love!)

But then Cat Noir had been on the news, visiting a civilian girl that Master Fu had recognized as Ladybug. He’d sighed and resigned himself to scolding them later about keeping their secrets safe and maintaining awareness… but then the girl had been kidnapped. And then later that day, Wayzz had freaked out, saying the Cat’s powers had been utilized without a transformation. (This news made him frown. The boy had always been a wild card with his heritage, but he’d seemed so promising….) And _then_ , a few minutes ago, the Cat’s secondary power had also been used! (What was the boy thinking? Was he trying to kill himself??) He’d even managed to feel Hawkmoth’s dark power once or twice in all of this, and the man had been meticulous in cloaking everything he’d done up until now.

And now, _now_ there was no calming his kwami down, so Fu had elected to join him. He’d been a Miraculous wielder too long to be completely comfortable with standing on the sidelines, but he _had_ to trust them. There was no doubt they were facing Hawkmoth right now. He’d know soon enough if they were up to the task.

“ _NOOROO_!!” he heard Wayzz scream, and spun around to face his kwami. Wayzz was staring into the nothingness that only he could see, but his tiny face reflected his horror. “The boy—he used the Cataclysm on the Moth Brooch!!”

_No…!_ Master Fu closed his eyes as agony washed over him. “Can you still sense Nooroo?” he asked, trying to hold onto that last sliver of hope.

Despair flooded him when Wayzz shook his head and floated down to slump on the mats on the floor. “I can’t sense him at all,” he whispered mournfully. “I think the Miraculous was broken.”

Fu knelt beside his kwami, unable to offer anything other than support for his oldest friend. Despite the kwamis’s near-constant bickering and years-long feuds that sometimes happened, there was a bond there. A strong one. And Nooroo had been such a gentle soul. Patient and kind, and always eager to help. To know that their friend had spent the last months of his life abused and twisted by a madman, only to be killed by one of the people who was supposed to be saving him….

“We must capture the Cat,” Master Fu said decisively. “Before any more harm is done. I should’ve sealed his powers long ago.”

“But Master, what about his Ladybug?” Wayzz asked, no doubt a bit nervous about going after the two most powerful Miraculous.

“We can only hope Marinette has seen him for what he truly is now,” Fu said, praying fervently that some higher power was listening and would show the girl the truth. But even he was nervous. She was young and driven by her emotions, and by all accounts, the boy was good-looking and quite the charmer. He’d thought them a perfect match at the time, but if the boy had been turned to darkness, corrupted by power….

A wave of pure energy rippled through the room.

Fu gasped as old aches and pains from injuries long-since-passed were suddenly washed away. Before him, Wayzz shot up, his eyes golden and glowing for a moment, before he managed to get control of his powers once more. Against the wall, the box that contained the Miraculous that weren’t activated shook and burst open, the two remaining kwamis popping out in twin streaks of orange and yellow light.

The fox kwami started laughing. “Oh my, oh my!” she said, chasing her tail in delight.

The bee, however, looked less impressed. “Was that what I thought it was?” she asked Master Fu.

“I believe so,” he said nervously.

“True love’s kiss!” the fox squealed, hearts in her eyes. “And it was strong enough to wake us all up!!”

“You say that like it’s a good thing,” the bee argued. “If it woke _us_ up, it’s woken up a lot of _other_ _things_ too, remember?”

“All the better for us to be awake,” the fox said with a shrug. She sidled up to the bee slyly. “Tell me you haven’t been itching for a good fight.”

The bee shrugged. “So what’s got you buzzing, Guardian?” she asked Master Fu as he started nervously pacing again. “Don’t you humans usually go ga-ga for true love?”

“It is not the emotions, but who they are attached to that worries me,” he said.

“Ooo, an evil _couple_??” the fox asked, getting excited again.

“No, Trixx, the girl is pure,” Wayzz calmly corrected the fox. “Surely you felt it?”

“Oh, I sure did!” Trixx said, spinning in delight. Then she gasped. “Maybe we’ll even get to see… an ascension!!” She squealed with delight.

“But her beloved may have turned to darkness,” Fu explained. “He just willfully destroyed a Miraculous.” The fox and bee kwamis gasped.

“Whose was it?” the bee demanded.

“Nooroo’s Moth Brooch. Just now,” Fu told them. The fox’s eyes filled with tears, but the bee looked angry.

“Send me out,” she demanded. “I’ll see to it—”

“I am not sending anyone out for revenge,” Master Fu said firmly. “If anything, we must contact the girl and get back the boy’s Miraculous before—”

“Whoa, whoa,” Trixx said. “He _has_ a Miraculous and he just destroyed another one? Who are we dealing with here? A collector?”

“No, Trixx,” Master Fu said with a sigh. “Nooroo was captured by dark forces a little less than a year ago. The villain twisted him and made him send out evil powers instead of good. I sent out the Cat Ring and Ladybug Earrings to combat him,” the fox and bee both swore fluently in Chinese, making Wayzz facepalm, “but they hadn’t been able to find the villain until tonight.”

“Wait, so this boy has Plagg?” the bee scoffed. “Ha! Just wait around. Plagg will have him trip into a sewer or walk under a falling tree or something. You know he doesn’t put up with that.”

“Plagg and the boy actually have a good working relationship,” Wayzz said softly.

The bee raised an eyebrow. “And you’re sure he’s evil?” she asked Master Fu incredulously. “Stinky-Cheese Brain and I don’t get along, but he knows how to spot a dark soul. Comes from being evil himself.”

“Pollen, be nice,” Trixx chided. “We’ve all had bad Chosen before. Right, _Snow Queen_?” She smirked and the bee looked away, grumbling. The fox turned back to Master Fu. “As for dealing with Plagg’s Chosen, I volunteer! You know I’m the best one for this job! ~Can’t destroy what isn’t really there!~” she sang. Master Fu considered it. As far as powers went, Trixx had a point. Illusions were the best foil for someone who could only destroy.

“There is still the issue of the girl,” he mused. “Considering she has strong feelings for the boy, she will try to defend him with everything she has.”

“So, give me to someone close to her,” Trixx said with a shrug. “Someone who’ll be able to see through his façade. If we can get her to doubt him enough….”

“Hmm,” Fu said, considering. “There is a girl who might fit your interests and our needs. But she will have to be tested.” He warned Trixx, before she could go into spasms of delight. “And I’m not certain I should be sending you out anytime soon anyway,” he added, remembering their other problem. “Nooroo’s master was able to create an akuma of your Miraculous and set it against Ladybug and Cat Noir. Multiple times. They will likely attack you and your Chosen on sight.”

Trixx’s jaw dropped and she positively steamed with fury. “HE DID WHAT??”

The bee smirked at her. “Looks like you won’t get to play this round after all.”

“VENGENCE SHALL BE MINE!!!”

Fu sighed. “I already told you, I’m not sending anyone out for—”

“BESMIRCHING MY GOOD NAME!!”

“Oh, please, who do you think you’re fooling, fox?” Pollen scoffed. “What good name? You take delight in dragging it through the mud yourself!”

“EXACTLY!!” Trixx cried, rushing up to her friend. “YOU MUST AVENGE ME, POLLEN!! I DIDN’T EVEN GET TO HAVE THE FUN OF DOING IT MYSELF!!”

Pollen rolled her eyes. “Do you have someone in mind for me?” she asked Master Fu.

“I have tested several people,” he admitted. “They all failed.”

“Whatever,” she said carelessly. “Just make sure they’re strong enough to go up against the Cat. I do _not_ wanna put up with Plagg’s smug face if he manages to defeat me again. And pick somebody normal this time.”

“Oh please,” Wayzz said quietly, rolling his eyes. “The last time we picked you ‘somebody normal,’ he threw the Bee Comb into the bottom of a river because he couldn’t deal with you anymore.”

“He was an artist!” the bee exclaimed.

“Musician,” Wayzz corrected her.

“Same thing! They can’t have thin skin like that! He never would’ve survived getting his feelings hurt if I hadn’t toughened him up!”

“Actually, Pollen,” Master Fu said, thinking hard and finding all the pieces fit. “How would you like a wielder who _does_ need to be taught a lesson?”

The bee kwami smirked. “Bring it on.”

“I warn you, she’ll be hard to deal with,” he said. “Out of all the candidates I tested, she failed the hardest. You will have to teach her compassion. Respect.”

Pollen turned around. “See the stinger?” she said slyly. Fu chuckled.

“She is also responsible for many of the akumas that Nooroo was forced to corrupt,” he added. “So, it is a bit of poetic justice that she be the one to clean up the mess.” The fox kwami snickered at the smirk on the bee’s face now.

“Take me to this _princess_ , Guardian,” she demanded. “I’ll turn her into a queen.”

* * *

End.


	11. Epilogue

In the darkened streets of Paris, Alya trotted along, her eyes sweeping from side-to-side. In her hand, her phone buzzed again, but she barely glanced at it before she continued on her way.

Yes, her mother was going to skin her alive.

_It was late. It was **dark**. And one of her classmates had already been abducted today!! Her mother had every right to worry! She should not be out here!!_

Her hand shook and she paused for a moment to wipe the tears from her eyes. No. She couldn’t see anything if she lost it like this! She had to be alert! She had to be ready for the first sign of Marinette!!

It was her best friend who’d been taken today, and SHE. COULD. NOT. LOSE. IT!!!

_But I am losing it,_ she thought to herself, as she finally gave herself a moment to sit down and just cry. She’d been looking all day, and nothing!! The police had been looking. Cat Noir had been spotted looking!! Surely, surely he and Ladybug would be able to find Marinette!!

_I was the last person who spoke to her,_ Alya thought glumly, clutching her phone tighter as tears poured down her face. _I didn’t notice anything was wrong…_

_We were all laughing and joking… while she must’ve been **screaming** …_ a sob tore through Alya’s throat. And then she couldn’t hold them back anymore.

_MARINETTE!!_

_MARINETTE!!_

_PLEASE, GOD, PLEASE LET HER BE OKAY, I’LL GIVE UP ANYTHING FOR HER TO JUST BE OKAY!!_

_I shouldn’t have reposted that picture of her and Cat Noir—OH GOD, WHAT IF THIS IS ALL MY FAULT????_

_I’LL NEVER SEE MY BEST FRIEND EVER AGAIN!!_

“Alya??” a voice called to her. Alya drew in a shuddering breath, and slowly looked up. Nino was striding towards her, looking angry. “For cripes sake, woman, answer your phone!!”

Alya gulped and looked at him hopefully. “Did they find her??” To her dismay, Nino’s face fell and he shook his head.

“No, but your mom is going ballistic,” he grumbled, “and if they have to call officers off the search for Mari just so they can come hunt you down, I’m gonna be super peeved at you.” Alya drew in a deep, shuddering breath and wiped her tears away again. He was right, of course.

“I just… I feel like I have to _do_ something,” she whimpered. “What if they miss some important clue or something?? We know her best, and Marinette’s smart! She’d leave us a clue if she could!!”

“ _If_ she could,” Nino agreed glumly, sitting beside her.

“You don’t think—”

“No, she’s fine,” Nino said firmly. “Marinette is fine. I’m gonna believe she’s fine until they put the freaking body in front of me.”

“Don’t say stuff like that.”

“I say it ‘cause it makes it less scary,” Nino said, looking up. “There’s not gonna be a body, because she’s gonna be all right. She’ll be in class on Monday with the rest of us, and we’ll all swarm her to get the juicy details. You’re gonna be in full journalist-mode, and write down all the action she can tell you about, and Kim and Alix will make bets on who could’ve punched out the bastards first, and Chloe will actually be nice for once as she brags about how her daddy offered a reward for—”

“Did he really?” Alya cut it with a wry smile. Nino shrugged.

“He made some sort of announcement earlier. I missed the details. Now, will you please call your mom? I promised her I’d get you home.”

Alya nodded, still a bit shaky, and held up her phone. Before she could press anything, however, she heard Nino gasp and looked up just in time to see a wave of pink light wash over everything.

Instantly, she felt calmer. Happier. She jumped to her feet.

“Ladybug,” Nino murmured beside her. Alya looked at him in surprise.

“That was no Miraculous Cure,” she said. “Not like any I’ve seen before anyway.”

“It was her,” Nino said firmly. He smiled, stood, and held his hand out to her. “C’mon, let’s get home. I bet we get some good news before this night is over.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Issues will be continued in the next installment: Consequences!   
> Coming soon!


End file.
